Scholarships
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Wilson seeks $6.5 million to help support students through scholarships and other forms of financial aid.
Unfortunately, the cost of higher education continues to climb in our country, and the financial aid provided by state and federal governments has failed to keep pace with increasing tuition costs. Many young people today can only attend college by taking on substantial debt, while others cannot attend at all.
Wilson College is committed to keeping its tuition rate at a reasonable level.
While a recent study found an over 40% increase on average in tuition, room, board, and fees at colleges and universities nationally from the 2009-2010 academic year to the 2019-2020 academic year, Wilson College’s commitment to affordability has led us to increase our total cost to attend by only 2.5%. In fact, Wilson’s tuition is nearly the same price it was 15 years ago, and tuition, room, and board, are nearly the same cost they were during the 2009-2010 academic year. In recent publicly available data, after all financial aid was calculated, a Wilson student pays nearly the same for their education as does a student at a nearby public university, despite that university receiving millions in public funding.
For the 2022-23 academic year, Wilson awarded $24 million in financial aid to deserving students.
$6 million of those dollars are unfunded by the College’s endowment or designated scholarship funds. Those dollar amounts include all sources of financial aid, from both state and federal governments, with institutional dollars making up the majority of the unfunded gap. It is thanks to our alumnae, alumni, and friends and their philanthropic generosity that a Wilson education is often as affordable than a four-year public education. However, the need is great and growing. Wilson primarily serves low-income or low-middle-income students; therefore, we can transform the lives of our students today as well as change the lives of subsequent generations of their families. But Wilson needs your help to close the gap in scholarship need, fund current scholarships, and make the Wilson experience possible for all students – keeping our commitment to access and affordability strong.
“I am a first generation college student and when I had the opportunity to get scholarships, I cried because Wilson was giving me the opportunity to succeed. I’m working hard and it’s paying off. And that recognition from alumni, faculty, people in the community is huge.”
“I could not have come here without the scholarship and I’ve met numerous current students and recent graduates who told me the same tale, that they could not have come here without scholarship help.”