College Scholarships Dry Up Along With Endowment Funding
For the six-month period ending in December, college endowments
nationwide lost an average of 24 percent, according to the nonprofit
Commonfund Institute of Connecticut, forcing a handful of small
regional universities to make significant cutbacks to their
scholarship funds for the upcoming fall semester (“More Bad News on
Campus: Scholarships Drying Up,” Associated Press, March 12, 2009).
This year, Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington,
provided half a million dollars for 500 scholarships, said Mike
Westfall, vice president for university advancement. After
experiencing a 20-percent drop in its endowment, the school will
only be able to provide $100,000 in scholarships for the coming
academic year, which, Westfall said, will significantly impact its
student population.
“Over 50 percent of our students are first-generation students.
First-generation students tend to be more dependent on financial
aid. To take that away is troubling,” he said. To make up the
difference, Eastern has increased its fundraising efforts and
created a new scholarship website.
Rhode Island College, which saw a 22-percent drop in its endowment
this year, has decided to suspend all scholarships for the upcoming
school year, largely because the college’s endowment scholarship
fund is “underwater” after dipping below the amount the fund started
with.
The University of Wisconsin-Superior will have to offer
approximately $100,000 less in endowed scholarships next year based
on the decline in value of its endowment.
And with only $200,000 available for scholarships next year — after
distributing about $900,000 this current year — Western Washington
University in Bellingham plans to increase scholarship fundraising
for the fall to cover its 30-percent drop in endowment funds.
The school would also like to increase funding for its $800,000
annual scholarship campaign to make up for endowment losses, said
Stephanie Bowers, vice president for university advancement and
executive director of the university foundation.
Bowers characterizes next year’s scholarship prospects as bleak, but
said that she remains hopeful about the future, “When you work for a
foundation, you take the 100-year view.”