Academic Scholarships

Since the inception of Franklin College, its mission has been to provide a liberal arts education along with the benefit of an international and intercultural experience. We seek to maintain diversity of culture, religion, language, socio-economic background and more throughout our student population. To achieve and maintain this lofty goal, we need significant funding for both annual and endowed scholarships. Donors choose to make scholarship gifts for a variety of reasons such as:

• Memories of the difficulties of being a student prompting a desire to help a current student
  
• The fact that the time they spent at Franklin changed their lives
  
• A desire to recognize the efforts of others, for example a favorite professor, a mentor, a parent who provided financial support throughout college
  
• A wish to memorialize a special person
  
• Celebration of the accomplishments of someone, for example a graduation, a recent promotion, a recent birth, marriage or other significant milestone

There are two ways to support students by providing scholarship opportunities:

Annual Scholarships

Annual scholarships are awarded on a yearly basis according to stated criteria which could include merit, field of interest, financial need, nationality or other specified qualifications. Although these scholarships are not considered long-term commitments, such support can have a tremendous impact on the life of a student. When an annual scholarship is given, the donor discusses the purpose of the scholarship with a representative from the Development Office and agrees upon the criteria for the scholarship. Annual scholarships can be used to help reduce the costs of tuition, books, meal plans, housing, living expenses, airfare, Academic Travel supplements or other criteria as outlined in the donor agreement at the time of the gift.

Institutional impact: In striving to maintain heterogeneity, Franklin College values socio-economic diversity as well as cultural diversity. Annual scholarships can provide a level of extra support that allows students to enjoy the Franklin experience more fully. Such a scholarship could mean the difference between a student taking a supplement Academic Travel or participating in a student program that otherwise would not be possible.

Minimum required for annual scholarships: $10,000

Named Scholarship Endowments

People choose to establish named endowments for many different reasons including recognizing accomplishments like graduation, honoring someone who has made a difference in your life or memorializing a loved one. When an endowment is established, the assets are invested in a diversified portfolio and each year a portion of the earnings is used to fund the scholarship and a portion of the earnings is returned to the corpus of the endowment to account for inflation and to assure that the endowment continues to provide the same benefit in 25 and 50 years. Named Scholarship Endowments provide support for a Franklin College student. The types of support are identified in a written endowment agreement that is agreed upon by both the donor and Franklin College. Examples of support include tuition, books, fees, travel expenses, housing, Academic Travel supplements and more.

Institutional impact: The institutional impact of these types of gifts is immeasurable. Scholarship endowments allow the institution to plan available scholarship support better and to provide a more competitive environment for attracting top students while offering opportunities for students who otherwise may not be able to choose a Franklin College education.

Funding Options

The minimum funding required to establish a Named Scholarship Endowment is $25,000, which would provide yearly funds that could defray some of the cost for a student attending Franklin.

A Named Scholarship Endowment funded at $250,000 would cover tuition costs for one semester.

"Presidential" Named Scholarship Endowments are funded at $500,000 and each year cover half the total costs for one Franklin College student.

"Distinguished" Named Scholarship Endowments are funded at $1,000,000 and each year cover the total costs for one Franklin College student.

Scholarship Endowment Minimum: $5,000 per year for five years

For more information contact the Office of Advancement.