Scholarship helps hundreds each year

By Heather Lowhorn

The dream of attending a private university can be overshadowed by the price tag. With this in mind, Anderson University has developed a program to help students and parents achieve this dream. AU partners with churches across the country to assist students through the Matching Scholarship Program.

The basic premise is simple: If a church awards an Anderson University student a scholarship, AU will match the scholarship, up to $1,500 per year every year it is awarded to the student. “Some churches give $1,500, some give less, some give more, but we match up to $1,500,” says Ted Baker, director of Church Programs and the Matching Scholarship Program. A number of students have received $12,000 through the program during their four years at AU.

The program started in 1978 with the late Jan Ridenhour as the first director. “He was a very creative person,” says Baker. The idea took off, and soon other schools were interested in starting their own program.

Anderson’s program is still among the best in terms of the amount matched. “I don’t think there are any other schools that will match as much as we will match,” says Baker. Each year approximately 600 AU students benefit from the program, totaling more than a million dollars.

Matthew Nance is just one of the students helped by the Matching Scholarship Program. The junior marketing major originally started his college career at Indiana University. In a matter of weeks, he knew that school was not the right fit. Impressed with AU’s Falls School of Business, he transferred. Transferring to AU made Nance eligible for a $1,500 scholarship from his home church, Mt. Pleasant Church of God in Evansville, Ind. That scholarship was doubled through the Matching Scholarship Program.

Matthew’s wife, Rhiannon, is also a student and a recipient of a matched scholarship from Mt. Pleasant. She is a junior majoring in English. “We’re just starting out. Money is tight, but this program helps.”

The Matching Scholarship Program is also a useful recruiting tool. “It’s something we mention all the time when recruiting at college fairs,” says Jim King, director of Admissions. “It gives us the platform to illustrate the broad base of denominational backgrounds of AU students. You don’t have to come from a Church of God church to benefit from this program.”

Another admissions selling point for the program is that the Matching Scholarship Program will not affect the student’s financial aid package. “The Matching Scholarship Program is above and beyond any other gift aid that the student qualifies for — it’s bonus money,” says King.

For churches valuing Christian higher education, the Matching Scholarship Program is a wonderful opportunity. One such church is the First Church of God in St. Joseph, Mich. The church has participated in the Matching Scholarship Program since the program’s inception. According to Pastor Bob Moss, the church has awarded matched scholarships to as many as 15 students in a single year. “We write [the scholarship money] in the budget each year, and if we end up with more students than we expected, we just bite the bullet and figure out a way to do it,” says Moss. “We see it more as an investment than as an expense because we’re feeding leaders back into the church by helping them study at Anderson University.”

The church has benefited from this philosophy. One of the students they helped send to AU prepared for the ministry and returned to First Church of God as a staff member. Even Moss himself benefits: “Right now all three of my children are students at Anderson University. I’m very grateful for this program. It’s helping me,” he says.