Scholarships enable star students to attend JMU instead of going to a second-choice school or skipping college altogether. When you invest in scholarships, you open JMU's doors for students.
Opening OUR DOORS
HELPING STUDENTS • Thirty percent of JMU applicants are from low-income families . Many of them go into heavy debt to attend JMU, while others must select another second-choice university or skip college altogether. • Only a third of students who are offered federal and state grants come to JMU, because they need additional scholarship funds to make JMU affordable. Pell-eligible students with the greatest financial need are not matriculating. • Sadly, the JMU Office of Financial Aid must advise some students NOT to enroll at JMU . The debt burden is just too great because of our inability to offer scholarships. • Non-matriculants cite a lack of scholarships as the No. 1 reason they can’t choose JMU . • When JMU students from low-income families are able to choose JMU, they graduate at the same rates as their peers who do not receive financial assistance. • Individuals who complete a bachelor’s degree will earn, on average, $1 million more over their lifetimes than those who graduate from high school only.
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One scholarship truly filled me with the hope and motivation that I was working hard to find. Therefore, I want to give the biggest thank you for your help in paving my future. I will continue to keep working hard knowing I have the support to be my best. Kathleen Arenas Diaz (‘24) ” Valley Scholar, psychology major, research assistant
Aspiring Dukes NEED YOU
HELPING STUDENTS ALSO HELPS JMU AND SOCIETY • Gifts of scholarships make JMU stronger. Right now, approximately 7% of students who apply for JMU financial aid are offered a scholarship as part of their financial aid package. Our flagship competitors offer aid to considerably more: 35% on average. • Funding agencies often look first at the number of students with financial need we are already helping. Gifts for need-based scholarships will increase that number as well as the potential for these agencies to look more favorably on JMU when they are making their funding decisions. • Recognized yet again as the No. 1 school in Virginia for getting a job , JMU delivers on its promise to students and contributes to the economic engine of the commonwealth. • JMU alumni satisfaction rates consistently vouch for the quality of their education and the quality of their lives after graduation, according to Gallup.
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I am no longer limited by how many years of college I can afford financially, or in a place where my education and passions have to be compromised. Instead I am suddenly greeted by an open sky of possibilities ahead of me, and I cannot express enough my gratitude for the people who brought me here. Corinne Martin (‘23) Centennial Scholar; double major: English and Native American history, culture, and narratives; minors: environmental humanities and Honors interdisciplinary studies ”
JMU Development Office MSC 4401, Harrisonburg, VA 22807 1-800-296-6162 development@jmu.edu j.mu/unleashed 4/2021
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