The Senior Class Scholarship Committee narrowed down the class gift to four options Tuesday, Nov. 1 at its meeting. The entire senior class will be able to vote online between four scholarships: “angel,” graduate school, a transfer student and a first generation.

Committee president Tierney Singer described the “angel” scholarship as money given to a student, most likely a senior, who has “maxed out” on student loans.

“Say they have 16 credits to graduate, and they’ve maxed out on their student loans, and they’re not getting any more money from the university,” Singer said. “It would be like an extra $1,000, or however much the scholarship would be, to get them through the rest of the year.”

Gift Officer Kristen Lucius said a transfer student scholarship would benefit the undergraduate transfer students.

“Even if you applied for St. Thomas before, (and) you went to a different school instead, you don’t get those scholarships back,” Lucius said.

A third option for the gift includes a scholarship for a student who is the first person in their family to attend college. The fourth option is a scholarship for a student enrolling in graduate school after graduation.

Committee Vice President Amy Krueger said the more seniors that get involved, the more money the gift can accumulate.

“The more people that we get involved in our senior class, the more money that we get from the Old Guard,” Krueger said. “For every 10 percent of participation, we get $3,000 from Old Guard.”

Lucius said the committee already received $10,000 from a parent. Krueger said the committee is “going to have to be really creative” in raising even more money.

“This year we’re going to have kind of a challenge because everything we do on campus now… is online. That’s also going to happen with the senior class gift,” Krueger said. “It’s easier to get donations from people if you’re standing at a table right in front of them asking versus just like a little box at the bottom of something online saying, ‘hey, give five dollars.’ It’s really easy to not check the box.”

Singer said seniors will receive an email with a link sometime before Thanksgiving to vote on the gift. Once the options are narrowed down to one, specific criteria such as GPA will be decided by the committee at its next meeting on Dec. 6.

The class of 2011 created a scholarship for students taking a January term course abroad. The class of 2010 formed a scholarship for students taking VISION service trips.

Seniors weigh in

Senior Katie Nordyke said she would vote for the “angel” scholarship.

“I think that it would be great for someone who has maxed out on their loans and is about to graduate,” Nordyke said. “I think that it’s so different than any other scholarship out there.”

Senior Dominic Kruggel said he would vote for this option as well.

“I don’t think money should hold them back from finishing their degree,” he said.

Senior Amanda Davis said this is the first time she has heard of a St. Thomas scholarship benefiting first-generation students.

“A lot of the times schools love when they have repeats from families, but what about those that decided to go out of the box from what their family has done in the past and choose their own school?” Davis said. “There are a ton of scholarships and awards for children of alumni, but I’ve never seen one for a first-generation (student).”

Cynthia Johnson can be reached at john3175@stthomas.edu.