University donors began conversation about to best help newly graduated students with their student debt. Recently, they created the Work Initiative Scholarship Endowment (WISE) to financially help eligible, full-time students who are putting their job earnings toward tuition. Students accepted into the WISE program will have their school year’s earnings matched up to $3,000 per academic year.
According to Kenny Turpen, relationship and engagement programs manager, students interested in applying to be a part of the program should talk to their student finance counselor, but the program is full for this semester. Certain criteria are involved in qualifying a student, including the student being an undergraduate and applying a minimum of 50% of their earnings to their student finance account. Since the program first began last semester, the endowment has grown to $1.7 million.
“University donors who were concerned with increasing levels of student debt wanted to help Southern's hardest working students,” Turpen said. “They began a conversation with university administrators about how best to keep new graduates from starting their careers under a cloud of financial concern. WISE helps our hardest working students. Even though this program only began last semester and there are limited funds, building this endowment is a high priority for Advancement.”
For those interested in learning more about the WISE scholarship, visit the student finance department or visit the campaign website, southern.edu/webelieve.
