DACC Notes: October 2022 -- Making College Affordable

 

When I graduated from Purdue University in 1989, my bill for tuition, fees, room, and board was between $5,000 and $6,000 per year. My family was distinctly “underprivileged,” so I received maximum state and federal financial aid benefits that covered the entire bill, without a loan. I was eligible for work study, and my 20-hour per week on-campus job paid my incidentals and bought my books. I got an internship my senior year and didn’t work, so I took one loan for $5,000 and had it paid off within three years. Good times!

Unfortunately, prices have gone up, financial aid benefits have changed very little, and student loans have skyrocketed. No matter how you feel about student loan forgiveness, everyone must agree that we have a crushing financial crisis that our younger citizens can’t pull themselves out by their bootstraps.

That’s where Danville Area Community College and the DACC Foundation can be the most effective.

 

 

On September 16th more than 600 people gathered with the DACC Foundation to celebrate scholarship donors and recipients at the Annual Honors Program in Mary Miller Gym. The brief program featured remarks by Dr. Carl Bridges, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and a testimonial by Hailey Hill, a nursing student who received one of 11 Lowell and Florence Crawford scholarships. The Crawford Scholarship provides full tuition, fees, and books for one full academic year. It is the largest financial scholarship awarded by the DACC Foundation.

 

At the DACC Board of Trustees meeting the following week, Tonya Hill, Executive Director of the Foundation, informed the Board that the Foundation awarded 658 scholarships worth $945,450 for this academic year. Also, 100% of qualified applicants who were attending DACC received a scholarship this year...the second year in a row for that phenomenon.

 

She declared that her goal is to reach $1 million for scholarships next year. “I know we can do it,” she asserted, “this community is the most generous and involved anyone could hope for.”

 

Ms. Hill was accompanied by two Presidential Scholars. Presidential Scholarships are awarded to students in the top 15 percent of their high school graduating class. Each scholarship provides full tuition for two years at DACC. This scholarship is the highest academic scholarship honor awarded.

First-year Presidential Scholar Naomi Dolan told the Trustees that attending DACC had been her dream since she first enrolled in College for Kids in 2012. Naomi, who is the reigning Vermilion County Fair Queen, is a member of the DACC Pep Band and the All Star Jaguars. Though the Presidential Scholarship is typically a two-year award, Naomi earned 29 dual credits in high school so she is planning to be at DACC only one year. “I want to make the most of it while I’m here,” she stated.   

 

Second-year Presidential Scholar Autumn Lange told the Board that she had earned enough dual credit in high school to complete her degree in one year, also. She was very excited to learn that she could use the second year of her scholarship while taking courses toward a bachelor’s degree through DACC’S 3 + 1 program. Autumn received her Associate degree in May and now is taking a third year of DACC courses before finishing her bachelor’s degree in business online through Franklin University. Between dual credit, her scholarships, and the money she will save on her bachelor’s degree, she will graduate in three years with no student debt.

 

Registration for spring classes began October 31^st. The scholarship application will open online for the next year on January 3^rd, and the FAFSA is available online right now. Let DACC help you make sound financial decisions for your future.