FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT SCHOLARSHIP GIVING

How many students at UIS are paying their own way through school?

We can’t give you a percentage (we don’t collect that data), but based on the students we interview and their thank-you letters to donors, quite a few. And it’s become harder and harder for them to do so.

In the 1980’s (all numbers adjusted for inflation), students could work 195 hours during the summer at minimum wage to pay for their college tuition—about five weeks. That left the rest of the summer to earn money for room, board, and other expenses. Today, students have to work 786 hours to pay for tuition—almost twenty full weeks, just shy of half the year. And that’s just for tuition. Paying for their room and board, books, fees, and other expenses makes it almost impossible for them to pay their own way without taking time off.

Most resort to educational loans: The nation’s educational loans now exceed the nation’s credit card debt, and only a portion of that is low-interest. Even more difficult for some students, their families don’t qualify for either federal or bank loans. These are the students most often who are working fulltime while struggling to achieve their dreams of a college education.

I wish you could meet these earnest, hardworking, and deeply committed students. Many are the first in their families to attend college. They want so much to create a better life for their children and families.

Our scholarship donors are helping. Through their gifts, they are creating a better economic environment for all of us—scholarships are an excellent investment in the nation’s future. For information on giving a scholarship, please contact the UIS Office of Development at 217-206-6058, or visit uis.edu/accessillinois.