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PHILANTHROPY
’Southern: Are there certain elements that
make a strong and useful scholarship?
Vinson
: I would have to say that having the least number of
restrictions on how to award would be a high priority. The more
restricted you make the scholarship, the harder it is to find a qualified
student. For instance, if you want to create a scholarship for students
from Chilton County who are Methodist and who plan to study
mathematics, we probably
won’t be able to use your
scholarship every year.
But a scholarship that can
be awarded to any student
who has been admitted
and demonstrates
financial need would help
many students.
’Southern: How
much do you
need to start a
scholarship?
Vinson
: We recently
increased our minimum
funding for scholarships
to $25,000 to better
serve our students. This
amount provides the
earning potential to award amounts that make a real difference
and allow us to offer competitive scholarship packages. We’ve had
scholarships established that fund the $25,000 over a five-year
period—this can be done by completing a scholarship agreement
with a corresponding pledge agreement. So it doesn’t necessarily
need to be a one-time payment. You can, of course, add to your
scholarship once it has been established, contributing to its earning
distribution and increasing the impact for recipients.
ACT/SAT Score
HS GPA
20 - 22 23 - 24
25 - 26 27 - 28 29 - 36
3.90 +
3.75 - 3.89
3.50 - 3.74
3.25 - 3.49
3.00 - 3.24
$27,000
$24,000 - $26,000
$21,000 - $23,000
$17,000 - $19,000
$13,000 - $15,000
Foundation Cornerstone Greensboro Trustee Presidential
Strength in numbers
Increasing scholarship and programming resources to
maximize impact
As an alum of Birmingham-Southern, you know the influential impact scholarships and other funding had on
your experience; in fact, the scholarships you were offered may have made it possible for you to attend. That
impact continues today through our endowed funds that support scholarships, programming, and faculty; what
you may not know is that you have the opportunity to provide the same resources to today’s students. For some
insights into building strong scholarship and programming funding, we talked with Charles E. “Chuck” Vinson
II, BSC’s vice president of institutional advancement.
’Southern: What role do scholarships play
in how BSC recruits students?
Vinson
: We have nearly 500 separate endowed scholarship funds,
and collectively, they earn nearly $2 million that can be used
toward scholarships. While this may sound like a significant
amount, it’s only a fraction of what BSC awards each year to
attract and retain high-quality students. The more we strengthen
our endowed
funding through
scholarships,
the more we
strengthen the
overall financial
health of the
college—as well
as our ability to
compete for the
best of the best.
BSC’s recently
updated
scholarship matrix
(see chart) shows
the minimum
amounts we
guarantee. As our
enrollment grows,
the funds needed
to support our scholarships will, of course, grow. So establishing
a scholarship or adding to an existing one are meaningful ways to
help us compete.
’Southern: What about faculty
development and programs?
Vinson
: The same funding model would apply—and we
have many existing funds that provide resources for faculty