Winthrop Women’s Coalition has established a scholarship that will allow Winthrop students the opportunity to receive their degree even if their finances would not allow them to do so.
The Commencement Bridge Scholarship will be given to current or rising seniors and will help the coalition’s goal “to ensure financial stability and sustainability by raising scholarship dollars for students”, according to an announcement by Winthrop University.
“The Commencement Bridge Scholarship was created by the coalition to help students who, due to an unforeseen financial crisis, may be suddenly worried about how to pay for college expenses like books, school supplies, and room and board. When a student is that close to his or her goal, we have to be committed and diligent in ensuring they meet it,” Laura Mahony, the First Lady of Winthrop, said.
Many students struggle to pay the costs associated with going to a university. Some students are able to obtain, grants, loans and scholarships, but these are not granted to stick for the entirety of one’s time at college.
“Unfortunately, for this year something happened with my FAFSA and they didn’t offer me any grants, just loans; which didn’t even cover the whole cost of tuition. So for this upcoming year I had to use some of my money I had saved up from my jobs to pay this semester” Nicole Brito, a junior psychology major, said.
Being unable to finish school has crossed many students minds as they struggle with the financial burden caused by the rising price of college tuition. Despite excelling academically, money is an underlying factor that could jeopardize all that hard work.
“Because of my bad anxiety I feel like I would be extremely depressed and angry because of the fact that I wasn’t able to finish at Winthrop due to financial reasons” Brito said.
Never receiving one’s degree because of financial issues is a reality many students in America face. Bill Gates told CNBC that 54.8 percent of students dropout of college, most of which are low income or first generation students. The Women’s Coalition hopes to break that cycle.
“This year, I almost did not get to come to school because of financial issues. I was so scared because I was not sure what I was going to do if that happened, especially because I had already signed my lease and gotten my schedule put together” Amanda Schwarz, a senior Human Development major, said.
Students struggling to finish their last semester or even paying for those last few classes could use this as an opportunity to relieve the stress and financial situation many students have said they feel trapped by.
“I think it would help many people struggling financially to finish school too especially in their senior year because they can finally not be so stressed like they have felt previously and have time to enjoy their last year” Brito said.
Some students are hoping that this new scholarship will shed some light on the financial issues they face throughout their college years.
“I think Winthrop and other students need to know that just because we have scholarships, sometimes it may not cover it all. With tuition and everything else being so high it almost causes a lot of students to have to take out loans” Schwarz said.
