Adriana King
aking@foghornnews.com
College is undoubtedly a large expense for many, and while scholarships can help ease the financial burden on students, many scholarships go unclaimed every year due to a lack of applicants and really a lack of awareness. The Stone Writing Center wants to encourage students to find these scholarship opportunities, however, holding scholarship workshops to help get the ball rolling in the application process.
The SWC has already help one of these workshops on February 28, which was supposed to last from 10am-12pm, but ended up stretching into the afternoon as students continued to come in.
“We are willing and able, if they can’t make workshop times, if they just come in and ask, we’re here. They can come in any time and we’ll overwhelm them with our helpfulness. We’ll be their cheerleader the whole time. People care. People want them to succeed,” Laurie Jones, assistant instructor of the Stone Writing Center said.
As students finished their applications, they were immediately notified of how many scholarships they were eligible for, some specific to circumstance or major, such as a scholarship for those who have quit smoking, for single mothers or those who are in culinary programs.
“We were helping them complete and submit what they were eligible for,” said Margot Sorrell, assistant instructor for the Stone Writing Center, “One student was even eligible for 123 scholarships… We didn’t want anyone to leave with an unfinished application. The process was simple. We’d assure them it wouldn’t take long, you just have to do it. Immediately they’d get their response of how many they were eligible for. It was really exciting for them.”
The Stone Writing Center worked with the Foundations office to make this event run smoothly. At the first scholarship workshop they ended up helping over 125 students. Another event is planned for March 28 on the East campus and on April 5 and 13 from 11:30 am-1:30 pm in the Coleman Center on the West Campus.
“Students have until April 30 [for the DMC Foundation Scholarships], it only comes around once a year,” Jones said. “We want as many students possible to benefit from the generosity of our community.”
There is also the STARS Scholarship, open to a variety of Texan students with an application deadline of March 31. For more information about the STARS Scholarship, go to http://www.StarsScholarship.org.
For more information about the DMC Foundation Scholarships, either head into the Stone Writing Center on the fourth floor of the library, contact the DMC Foundation @ 698-1317 or @ foundation@delmar.edu. The link for information regarding these scholarships can also be found on the front page of the Del Mar website.