New Scholarships Intended to Grow Student Body

In an effort to make Cedarville more affordable for students, the administration created new scholarships for incoming freshmen beginning in the 2014 fall semester, said Janice Supplee, vice president for enrollment management and marketing. Supplee said the new scholarships are intended to grow the student body in population, the states represented and cultural diversity.

“Scholarships help you open doors to students who may not have considered Cedarville before,” Supplee said. “Sometimes the opportunity for a scholarship not only makes Cedarville more affordable, but causes students to investigate Cedarville more than they would without scholarship opportunities. Scholarships are important to us because they are important to students.”

Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools Scholarship

Cedarville University’s school of education partnered with the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools (SBACS) to offer two full-tuition scholarships for incoming freshmen students who have graduated from an SBACS approved high school.

SBACS is a nonprofit organization of about 750 Christian schools that promotes and supports Christian education.

Incoming students can apply for this scholarship online under the school of education’s web page. Jeremy Ervin, dean of the school of education, said the applications will be reviewed by members of a board in the school of education.

One of the purposes of this scholarship is to bridge the gap between students who attend Christian high school but don’t continue their education by attending a Christian college or university. Ervin said he wants to encourage Christian families to value Christian higher education and see the benefits it provides students by training and preparing them for life and a career.

Ervin said in addition to bridging this Christian education gap, he hopes this scholarship will increase the number of students who come from southern states. The SBACS scholarship will provide an opportunity to introduce students to Cedarville who may not have heard about it before.

One Campus Scholarship

The One Campus Scholarship seeks to grow ethnic and cultural diversity on campus. This scholarship takes into consideration not only racial and non-minority diversity, but encompasses students who come from different backgrounds such as inner-city, urban or overseas, said Supplee. This scholarship is also open to students who have a strong passion and appreciation for cultural diversity. The One Campus Scholarship will help recruit students Cedarville has historically struggled to recruit, she said.

According to Catherine Hernandez, an admissions counselor and multicultural admissions specialist, Cedarville struggles to recruit students from various backgrounds partly because of the cost, Cedarville’s location and a lack of engaging minority communities.

“There are some people who are in the minority but don’t have minority status,” Hernandez said.

This scholarship replaced the old diversity scholarship which had many limitations and did not include people who have lived in different places and cultures. This scholarship will award culturally competent students.

“We want to better represent God’s kingdom on campus,” Hernandez said.

Applications will be reviewed by a committee in the admissions office. Each recipient of the scholarship can be awarded up to $6,000, and there is no predetermined number of students who can receive this scholarship. In all, this scholarship seeks to better reflect the global community on campus.

Presidential Leadership Award

Cedarville University President Dr. Thomas White started the Presidential Leadership Award for students whose parents are in full-time vocational ministry. This scholarship is the first of its kind to be offered at Cedarville.

“This scholarship reflects Dr. White’s heartbeat and his passion and priority to make Cedarville affordable to all students,” Supplee said. “This includes making Cedarville affordable to parents who are in full-time ministry.”

Supplee said Dr. White hopes to achieve his desire to make Cedarville affordable to all families through this scholarship.

Students can access this application online, and Dr. White will personally review the applications.

Bethany Brock is a senior journalism major and reporter for Cedars. Coming from Denver, she had never seen a cornfield before until her first visit to Cedarville.