Students at one Wichita university will cash in on Sedgwick County COVID scholarships
It’s good to be Friends, even during a pandemic.
Students at Friends University in Wichita will be getting Sedgwick County-funded scholarships of $1,000 or more to help pay for their education, if they’ve had economic setbacks due to the COVID-19 crisis.
County commissioners on Wednesday approved a $125,000 COVID grant that will provide direct aid to an estimated 90 students at the private Christian university. Money to fund it will come from the county’s allocation from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, commonly known as the CARES Act.
Within the grant, $90,000 is earmarked for student scholarships, while the remaining $35,000 will be used to market the university to new students and to provide technology support for the project, said Brent Shelton, the county’s director of economic development and tax systems.
Only students at Friends University are eligible for the money, because their university was the only one that asked, county commissioners said after the meeting.
“They put in the application for it,” explained Commissioner David Dennis. The money comes from a “bucket” of CARES funds commissioners set aside for higher education and job-training institutions that applied, Dennis said.
They got and approved three applications: Friends, Wichita State University Tech, and the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas.
“I believe that every university had the opportunity to submit a proposal of how they would use the funds,” said Commissioner Lacey Cruse. “I don’t think it’s that we’re singling anyone out, it’s just that Friends submitted an application (for scholarships).”
Shelton said to get the money, students will have to certify that they’ve suffered economic setbacks due to the COVID pandemic.
“(The university) would propose to offer $1,000 scholarships for up to 90 students that have been affected due to employment disruption either personally, or a family member, so that they’ve been either unable to continue on their educational path or they’ve been taken off that educational path because they no longer have the funds for tuition, or they’re in danger of not being able to continue their education,” Shelton said.
The scholarships will be available to current students, former students who dropped out because of the pandemic and want to go back, or new students attracted through the university’s marketing program, Shelton said.
Vernon Dolezal, the chief financial officer at Friends, said the program is aimed at graduate students and adult students working toward career change.
He said the idea for the request came from the university’s president, Amy Bragg Carey.
Numerous students have told the university that they couldn’t afford to enroll or continue because of loss of income from the pandemic, so the university’s been watching for opportunities for funding to “bring some of those students back into the fold,” he said.
While Friends’ request estimates splitting $90,000 between an estimated 90 students, individuals could get larger scholarships if fewer apply to the university for the money, Shelton said.
“It may be 45 students with $2,000 apiece,” he said.
Friends has a total enrollment of about 1,400, with about 600 graduate and second-career adult students.
The university’s published tuition rate for graduate students is $12,500 to $36,000 a year, depending on the program. Returning adult students pay $395 to $445 a credit hour.
Cruse questioned during the meeting whether the county was getting the best bang it could for the buck.
“I just wonder how big of an impact $1,000 is going to make on tuition at Friends rather than a scholarship to WSU Tech or something of that nature, since there is such a financial difference between the two institutions,” Cruse said. “But I’m hopeful it’s going to make an impact.”
While WSU Tech and the Workforce Alliance got money from the CARES allocation, neither sought direct financial aid for students.
WSU Tech will receive $970,000, primarily for equipment and programming.
The biggest spend from that will be $645,000 to expand its aircraft maintenance program primarily to retrain displaced aircraft assembly workers.
Workforce Alliance will receive $842,829.
It’s working with a number of businesses to provide in-house or outside training for employees who need retraining to keep their current jobs
This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 6:51 PM.
