With one click, freshman Alexa Gaines discovered the gap between her financial aid and scholarship was mostly covered, thanks to the new Indiana County Bicentennial Scholarship.
“I found out through an email and was really surprised,” Gaines said. “Two thousand five hundred dollars just showed up.”
Started for IU’s bicentennial class, the Indiana County Bicentennial Scholarship offers additional aid to students from 25 specific counties that have traditionally low enrollment at IU. It differs from most scholarships because students do not apply. Recipients are awarded the scholarship based on need determined by their FAFSA, and it is up to $2,500 renewable over four years.
“I was on the fence about coming to IU because of the cost,” Gaines said. “But now I’ll pay less than $1,000 this semester.”
A key factor in offering the scholarship was to make IU affordable, said Ron McFall, director of the Office of Scholarships.
“In a time where costs continue to go up, the additional money was a great opportunity for them,” McFall said. “Eighty-four freshmen are coming in with the award, which is about $200,000 in scholarships. We are really pleased.”
However, minimizing students’ costs was not the only reason behind offering this scholarship.
McFall said significantly fewer students from these 25 targeted counties attend IU compared to other Indiana counties. The counties are scattered around Indiana, but most tend to have rural towns with smaller populations, he said.
Gaines falls in this demographic. She comes to IU from Flora, Indiana, in Carroll County where only two people from her high school of approximately 400 students enrolled at IU.
McFall said they created the scholarship with the intention to connect students in lower enrollment areas to IU through both admissions and scholarship.
As for the future of the scholarship, McFall said they plan to offer it for the upcoming classes of freshmen, too.
“We want to develop a culture of educational attainment,” McFall said. “We want to say not only can you come to IU-Bloomington, but here is some additional need-based funding.”
Gaines said the scholarship is likely to get more students to come to IU in the future. She said she would encourage future students to apply for financial aid and scholarship even if they think IU may be too expensive.
“It’s all really possible,” Gaines said.
