21st Century Scholarship program helps students pay for college

Many students who can’t pay pricey tuition payments without help turn to the 21st Century Scholarship Covenant program.

The program, now in its second year, is part of the state’s 21st Century Scholars Program. The state-run program provides funding for the cost of tuition, said Roger Thompson, vice provost for enrollment management.

The Scholars Program only pays for tuition, and IU’s Covenant program makes sure the rest – such as room, board and books – is paid for. As Thompson put it, once a student fills out his or her FAFSA and returns it to IU, the job of the Covenant program is to fill in the gaps.

A former cheerleading captain, student body president and student of the year in high school, sophomore Shalisa Smith managed two jobs while her focus on education slipped. She needed financial help to pay for college so she could dedicate herself to school work, and she received it from the Covenant program.

Thompson said the total cost of attendance for an Indiana resident attending IU, including funds offset by state taxes, is about $20,000 per year. With help from the state, Pell grants and additional sources of financial aid, the Covenant would pay about $5,000 per student.

Now Smith and students in similar situations no longer have to worry about balancing school with two jobs.

“It definitely helped because it alleviated some of the stress of having to find scholarships and outside sources,” Smith said. “With that, it helped with not having to work so hard to pay off Bursar and college funding, being able to get involved and being able to do what you want to do without the money issue.”

Students must be identified as 21st Century Scholars and admitted to IU in order to be eligible for the Covenant program, Thompson said. Students are identified in middle school as 21st Century Scholars. Once accepted into the program, students must promise to earn a 2.0 GPA or higher with additional requirements.

The idea for the program originated from a study of 21st Century Scholars which determined Scholars were graduating with more than $20,000 in debt, Thompson said. Without the program covering all the costs, affordability became a goal and the Covenant program was born.

In its initial year, the Covenant program had about 270 students, and its numbers jumped up to more than 400 this year, Thompson said.

“The impact it’s having with students has been extremely positive. Our numbers have grown tremendously,” Thompson said. “I would say we thought this was going to be a terrific program to help lots of students and two years into this program, it’s even better then we imagined.”

Thompson said he hopes the impact of the Covenant program on students and their families is a “profound and long-lasting” one.

“There aren’t many families who have the ability to send their children to college knowing they’ll graduate debt-free, but that’s what the Covenant provides,” Thompson said. “The Covenant is a hope program. It provides hope to families who normally don’t have a lot of hope.”