Students and faculty expect the new scholarship campaign to enhance students’ experience on campus.
Dr. Phil Schubert announced ACU’s Partnering in the Journey Campaign, a $50 million effort to equip ACU students with a more affordable education, at the President’s Circle Dinner Saturday night.
Lead donors had committed $15.5 million prior to the launch of the campaign. University administration hopes to have the full $50 million in place within the next 18-24 months.
Connor Best, senior political science major from Sacramento, Calif. and Students’ Association president, is a presidential scholar.
“It’s a huge blessing for me to be able to take the classes I want with financial flexibility,” Best said. “I have gotten to experience more at ACU.”
Best said the scholarships are important and was excited to hear about the campaign.
“Now is the time to make ACU more affordable,” Best said. “Cost is a deterrent for some students. I’m hoping that scholarships will help make cost not as big of an issue.”
Best hopes to see future scholarship money go toward current students, as well as prospective students.
Nil Santana, instructor of art and design, said the scholarship campaign will boost the morale of the university.
“By investing in scholarships, we will be able to attract quality students that may have been shy from coming to ACU,” Santana said. “They’ll feel like they can apply for scholarships.”
Santana said the campaign may present faculty with the perspective that the university will be able to increase enrollment.
“As we’ve been informed, one of the reasons enrollment has been going down is high tuition,” Santana said. “With the possibility of scholarship money, I think we are going to be able to attract more students.”
Santana said he does not know the selection process behind the upcoming scholarship funding, but thinks the funds will be available to students in need of tuition money.
“It will motivate students in the sense that they feel like there is an outlet for their financial needs,” Santana said.
Taylor Youseffi, sophomore marketing major from Coppell, thinks the scholarship campaign is a good thing.
“Most students are covered in debt from attending ACU,” Youseffi said. “It is a costly school, so any extra scholarships would help.”
Youseffi believes that without his current scholarships, ACU would not have been an option for him.
“It would just be too pricey, and my parents would not be able to afford it,” Youseffi said. “More than likely, they would have asked me to go to a smaller school that is closer to home, like UTD or UTA.”
