8. Scholarship awards significantly increased during pandemic

Editor’s note: We’re counting down the top ten Grove City College stories of the year. This story is number eight based on audience interaction and institutional impact. It was originally published April 28.

Grove City College announced today that it will increase financial aid awards available to students this fall in a move to help families navigating college costs in a season of uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Ordinarily, our low tuition and extensive financial aid make a Grove City College education distinctively affordable, but these are not ordinary times,” said President Paul J. McNulty ’80.  “Thanks to the remarkable generosity of the College’s faithful supporters, we will make the College even more affordable for families facing financial hardship.”

Grove City College will invest an additional amount of nearly $2.5 million from its endowment and other gifts to increase awards for the 2020-2021 academic year. Sixty-six percent of the private Christian liberal arts college’s 2,300 students receive need- or merit-based financial aid from the College. All need-based aid recipients should see a 20 percent increase in their scholarship amounts under the plan. The total amount of funded scholarships will exceed $10 million.

In particular, the College will make additional funds available to help students and families experiencing recent economic hardship. Such special consideration scholarships provide much needed assistance for students who otherwise might not be able to remain enrolled at the College. With a rise in the unemployment rate and a decline in personal incomes in the current environment, the College anticipates an increase in these types of situations and is preparing to support these students in the new academic year.

A commitment of this level is an unprecedented initiative for Grove City College, which is one of just a handful of truly independent higher education institutions that do not accept federal funding, including student loans and grants. Reaffirming its core value of independence during this crisis, the College is not pursuing emergency funding under the CARES Act, which earmarked billions to help colleges and universities, or any future relief legislation. 

Grove City College is perennially recognized for offering the lowest tuition of any private college in Pennsylvania. Affordability has always been a key principle of the school’s mission to support motivated students to grow intellectually and spiritually since its founding in 1876.

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