News Release
Wilmington University Gives Tuition to SEED Students
University president: 'It was just the right thing to do'
The following story originally appeared in the July 6th edition of The News Journal.
Written by RACHEL KIPP
Sunday, July 6, 2008
The News Journal
A bill to extend Delaware's college scholarship program for two years failed to gain footing in the General Assembly this year.
But some students who would have qualified are getting another chance at earning a bachelor's degree tuition free.
Letters offering two-year, full tuition and fee scholarships to attend Wilmington University are going out this week to about 20 members of the first class of Student Excellence Equals Degree, or SEED, the program that didn't get funded.
A private college, Wilmington University is not part of the state-funded SEED program. But President Jack Varsalona decided to extend the scholarships -- worth about $20,000 each -- to ensure that students expecting the aid weren't left in the lurch.
"Getting a college degree takes a lot of hard work, but money should not be an issue," Varsalona said. "Here's a perfect case where I think a lot of these students were counting on the third and fourth year. Until the state can come in, we want to do it ... it was just the right thing to do."
The two-year-old SEED scholarship program provides full or partial tuition scholarships for earning an associate's degree at Delaware Technical & Community College or the University of Delaware's Associate in Arts program. To be eligible for SEED, students must earn a diploma from a Delaware high school, have clean criminal records and graduate with a grade point average of 2.5 or higher.
During her 2007 State of the State address, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner announced plans to create a program to provide aid to SEED students who excelled in their first two years in college and were interested in pursuing bachelor's degrees.
A bill was introduced during this year's legislative session to establish the Delaware Student Academic Reward Scholarship Program or STARS. Facing a tight budget year that included significant cuts to higher education, state officials opted not to fund STARS.
Wilmington University was not included in the initial legislation proposed for STARS, which would have provided scholarships for students to attend UD or Delaware State University for their third and fourth years of college. But a significant number of Delaware Tech graduates who opt to continue their educations do so at Wilmington University, Assistant Vice President Thomas B. Cupples said.
"That's another reason [Varsalona] wanted to extend the scholarships," Cupples said. "These students are already coming to us."
More than 600 students were awarded $1.2 million in state funding as part of the first class of SEED, which began in the 2006-07 school year. About 800 Delawareans applied for the program, but those eligible for federal grants drew on that money first. The program expanded by about 18 percent this year.
Only about 20 students met the qualifications in the STARS legislation, the same criteria Wilmington University used in offering the tuition scholarships. Students had to have completed their associate's degrees at Delaware Tech and have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.
A few students who qualified declined to have their personal information released to Wilmington University. Many SEED students are attending school part time, some have dropped out and others are taking longer to finish their two-year degrees because they are nursing students waiting to complete clinical rotations, said Simone George, Varsalona's assistant.
A non-residential college with nine locations in Delaware and New Jersey, Wilmington University has about 11,500 students. The school's revenue is primarily tuition-driven, officials said, and enrollment has jumped 40 percent during the past five years.
After deciding to extend the scholarships, Varsalona began spreading the word of his offer to key proponents of the SEED program, including Minner and Sen. Harris B. McDowell III, D-Wilmington North. McDowell was the primary sponsor of the bill to establish the STARS program.
"I was very disappointed that due to our current budget crunch, we were unable to create the STAR scholarship, which would have offered a tuition-free bachelor's degree to those high-achieving SEED students who had earned their associate degrees," Minner said in a statement. "I cannot offer enough praise and thanks to Wilmington University, under the leadership of Dr. Varsalona, for offering to pay tuition for high-achieving SEED graduates who want to earn their bachelor's degrees."
McDowell, who initially proposed a program similar to SEED more than a decade ago, said the effort was always intended to pay for students to attend college for four years. He expected to continue pursuing an extension to SEED during next year's budget session. He praised Varsalona's scholarship offer, adding "he's pulling a coup, too."
"He's going to get some great students," McDowell continued. "If they've done a 3.5 [GPA] in the first two years, they're good students, they're excellent students ... I'm happy those kids will be able to stay in Delaware and continue their educations."
Contact Rachel Kipp at 324-2386 or rkipp@delawareonline.com.