..............................................................................................................................................................
|
Smithellanea: Complex Beneficence If you're enrolled at Smith and you qualify for financial aid, attended high school in Barnstable, Massachusetts, and can write an effective essay titled "Why I Want a Smith College Education," you may be eligible for a $4,000 scholarship award. If you're an Asian-American studying English literature and planning to be a writer, you may be awarded $15,000 toward your Smith education. Another $15,000 grant is slated for an Asian-American at Smith who wants to become an elementary school teacher or a librarian. Those are just a few of the criteria for receiving scholarship grants at Smith. Individuals, groups or corporations establishing such grants often request that recipients fulfill specific criteria, says Valerie Schumacher, the Office of Financial Aid fund coordinator who each year determines how to award more than $10 million in scholarship money. "Some of them are so specific," she says as she flips through a Rolodex jammed with scholarship names and requirements. "It has to be this, this and this. Some donors are very, very interested in who gets their scholarship." For example, one scholarship is designated for "an English major with strong academic and writing abilities who is preferably from New York state." Another is for students planning to study in Israel. And one of the more curious criteria requires that an award be granted to "a student who is poorly prepared or having difficulties." For that one Schumacher searches for GPAs under 2.5. Some scholarship stipulations are so specific, Schumacher says, that she has to extensively investigate a student's background, her parents' occupations, even her future aspirations. She often has to track down a student's professors and advisers or talk to the career development, registrar's or international students offices or one of several academic departments to find out details about a student's ethnicity, hometown, area of concentration at Smith and other aspects of her life. "I'm dependent on a whole lot of other people," Schumacher says. Other scholarship stipulations that require interpretation and research on Schumacher's part include "a student with a democratic and tolerant spirit, well disposed toward people of all creeds and races," "students from independent nations of Africa which do not have a Mediterranean coast," "the daughter of a present or former missionary, minister or educator" and "an orphan." "Here's one that drives me insane," says Schumacher. "It requires a student from Vermilion County, Indiana. Finding someone from a county is so hard." Schumacher says that the criteria for granting scholarships are sometimes so stringent that she's unable to award the money. She cites two awards that went begging last year: they were designated for students from Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and there were none in the student body. Or there's the award earmarked for "the daughter of a Smith graduate of the Class of 1894"-obviously a difficult bill to fill 104 years later. Fortunately, most scholarships allow the administrating officer to use her judgment in awarding grants in the event no enrollees meet their precise requirements, Schumacher says. Then again, many funds established for Smith students have no name or criteria attached to them. They are deposited in an unrestricted account and can be awarded on a discretionary basis, says Schumacher. Most students aren't even aware of the criteria for the scholarships they receive, so that much of Schumacher's work is "behind the scenes." As long as a student is enrolled at Smith and qualifies for financial aid, her financial needs will be met, if not through specific scholarships then via the unrestricted account. In fact, students being notified of their financial scholarships are not even told what criteria the awards entailed, says Stephanie Schoen, the advancement office's assistant director of stewardship, who tells students what awards they've received. Scholarships at Smith are based not on merit but on need, Schumacher explains. "It doesn't really matter whether they're good students or poor students," she says, "as long as they're enrolled at Smith and have filled out their financial aid applications. The most important thing is that the students get grant aid." For most students, the fact that their financial needs are being met is more important than from where or whom the money comes. Yet students do appreciate their scholarships, says Schoen, and compose impressive letters of thanks to the donors. "Some of their letters are really remarkable," she says. "They're very well written." Schumacher says she immensely enjoys her job matching some 2,340 scholarships with the right students, despite its occasional difficulties. "It's a challenge matching the right person with the right award," she says. "But it's very interesting." In all, it takes Schumacher about three months during the academic year to complete financial awards. She will start the process this November after the students' financial aid requests and paperwork are in. So come this winter, Schumacher will be in her College Hall office busily poring over financial aid files to find just the right student to receive a particular scholarship, whether it be the daughter of a missionary, minister or educator; a student with a Navy connection; a student who is a high achiever academically; a student from Fitchburg, Massachusetts; a student from... |
..............................................................................................................................................................
NewsSmith is published
by the Smith College Office of College Relations for alumnae, staff, students
and friends.
Copyright © 1998, Smith College. Portions of this publication may
be reproduced with the permission of the Office
of College Relations, Garrison Hall, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
01063. Last update: 9/23/98.
Made with Macintosh
