byline: Gary Robertson

When Rebecca Funke was considering where she would go to college, the University of Richmond offered her a full-tuition merit scholarship plus $3,000 to use any way she chose in enhancing her education. 

The scholarship played a big role in the Perrysburg, Ohio, student’s decision to attend UR, where tuition totals $48,090 this year.

“I knew at the end of the four years I wanted to be debt-free because I knew I wanted to continue onto grad school,” says Funke, now a UR senior.

“[But] getting the scholarship at Richmond was not only about the money — it was the fact that Richmond saw my worth and would continue to provide me unique opportunities throughout my college years that would assist me in my future life goals,” she says.

Every college and university wants the brightest students in their classrooms, and merit scholarships — based on ability rather than financial need — are powerful recruiting tools.

James Monks, associate dean for undergraduate programs at UR’s Robins School of Business, says college officials typically talk about the “peer effect” and “seeding a classroom” in discussing the importance of merit scholarships.

“The rationale and motivation most commonly articulated by college and universities is the belief that the quality of a student sitting next to someone has an impact on the education they get,” says Monks, who has written about the effects of merit scholarships.

Critics of merit scholarships, however, say they divert money and attention from need-based scholarships. They note that many students who qualify for merit scholarships tend to be from higher-income families who have other options.
Merit scholarships, depending on their size, pay for all or part of the recipients’ education.  The college price tag has long been a controversial issue, among parents and politicians. 

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) reports that tuition and mandatory fees at the commonwealth’s 15 public four-year colleges rose an average of 6 percent, for the 2015-16 academic year, while room and board charges increased 2.9 percent.

These increases come at a time when state contributions to higher education continue to lag in relation to the rising cost of college at public colleges and universities.  Virginia students at the commonwealth’s public four-year schools now pay more than half the cost of their college education, compared with a state target of 33 percent.

Despite the debate, many colleges use merit or honor scholarships as they scour the country in search of elite students.

Jefferson Scholars
The University of Virginia offers no merit scholarships to its students, but the Charlottesville-based Jefferson Scholars Foundation does. A private group with an endowment that totaled $357 million last year, the foundation offers extensive merit scholarships, plus a lot of add-ons, to attract outstanding students to U.Va.  In 2015, the group’s 35th year, it has an operating budget of $14.1 million.

“We exist to serve the University of Virginia,” says James H. “Jimmy” Wright, the foundation’s president.

This year, the program invited 4,000 high schools — many of them chosen for their diverse enrollment — in 59 regions to nominate scholarship candidates from among their most outstanding students. Other candidates, including international students, are identified when they apply to U.Va.

Wright says the foundation tries to be as comprehensive as possible seeking out worthy recipients from every strata of life.

“Mr. Jefferson himself wrote about the fact that he thought talent was spread throughout all segments of society. He thought that talent was not just focused in the landed gentry,” Wright says.

This year’s entering class, the class of 2019, includes 35 Jefferson Scholars. There were about 300 students who made it through the last stages of the nomination process but did not get selected, along with hundreds of others who were winnowed out earlier.

But the foundation points out that, for every student who becomes a Jefferson Scholar, seven or eight of the candidates who weren’t chosen also enroll.

“All of them are highly motivated and are high achievers,” Wright says.

He says Jefferson Scholars have a history of leadership, mentoring and heavy involvement in all aspects of U.Va.’s academic and student life while performing at the highest levels academically.

For example, the Jefferson Scholar class of 2014 achieved a cumulative grade point average of 3.73 on a scale in which 4.0 is A-plus.

1693 Scholars
Other Virginia schools also are searching for elite students.

At the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, the 1693 Scholars Program — named for the year of the school’s founding — is the most prestigious. It pays for tuition (at the in-state level), fees, and room and board. (For out-of-state students paying higher tuition than Virginia residents, the program is essentially a partial scholarship.)

The scholarship offers students an opportunity to participate in special seminars, study for a semester at Oxford University and, under the guidance of a faculty mentorship team, design an innovative cross-disciplinary major and capstone research project.

All applicants for freshman admission are considered for the scholarship. During the review process, about 50 are selected as semifinalists based on their academic achievement, character, leadership, vision and commitment to service.
Semifinalists are asked to write an addition to their application. Ultimately about 20 students are selected as finalists before their number, too, is trimmed.

“The program has grown in the past three years with either six or seven students selected as recipients, and we anticipate adding more in the coming years,” says Timothy Wolfe, associate provost for enrollment and dean of admission.
Wolfe says the program has been funded through private support and an endowment.

Richmond Scholars
At the University of Richmond, the most prestigious academic awards are administered through the Richmond Scholars program.

Its scholarships, awarded to 45 incoming freshmen, range from full tuition to full tuition plus room and board. The full-tuition scholarship is currently valued at $181,000 over four years.

The scholarships include four different designations: Artist Scholars, Boatwright Scholars, Oldham Scholars and Science Scholars, with varying criteria in each group. (Rebecca Funke, for example, is a Science Scholar.) All applicants who apply by Dec. 1 are considered for the scholarships.

“We are looking for students who contribute to campus culture in exciting and tangible ways,” says Jennifer Cable, who directs the university’s vocal program as well as serving as director of the Richmond Scholars Program.

Cable says these scholars can elevate the learning of everyone around them by something as simple as asking a question, or providing an insight into a discussion through an original perspective.

She adds that the merit scholarship winners don’t take money away from other students, because the University of Richmond is one of the few colleges in America that offers need-blind admission and meets 100 percent of demonstrated need.

In other words, a prospective student’s ability to pay for college is not considered in the admission process.

Moreover, any admitted Virginia student whose total parental income is $60,000 or below qualifies for a financial aid package equal to full-time tuition, room and an unlimited meal plan, all without loans.

According to Cable, one of the key benefits of the Richmond Scholars has nothing to do with money.

“They each have a faculty mentor who works with them one-on-one for four years” in addition to an adviser from their major area of study, she says.

“The connection is amazing,” says Cable, who serves as a mentor.

Emphasis on affordability
At Washington and Lee University in Lexington, the focus has shifted away from merit scholarships — although the university still offers them — to a bigger emphasis on need-based financial aid.

“Our first obligation is to the capable student who can’t afford to come,” says W&L President Kenneth P. Ruscio.  “We want to make Washington and Lee available to exceptionally qualified students regardless of their economic backgrounds. Our assumption is that we will find very able students across the spectrum.”

W&L recently completed a $500 million fundraising campaign that exceeded its goal by $42.5 million. The campaign included raising $160 million for need-based financial aid.

Ruscio says the highly regarded university is sensitive to concerns over affordability.  Under its policy, annual tuition will not increase more than the rate of inflation plus 1 percentage point. The tuition at the private school for 2015-16 is $45,460.

“The reason we’re hesitant to use your term ‘merit’ is that is creates an implication that those who are getting aid based on need are academically less strong,” Ruscio says. “Some of our very best students receive need-based financial aid.”

The most prestigious scholarship at Washington and Lee is the Johnson Scholarship, awarded to about 10 percent of the entering class.

Winners of the scholarship, drawn from the most highly qualified applicants, receive at least tuition, room and board.  Students with even more financial need receive additional assistance.

In 2007, W&L graduate Rupert Johnson Jr., who is vice chairman of the board of Franklin Resources Inc., gave the school $100 million to establish a merit-based financial aid and curriculum enrichment program.

Besides having many or all of their college expenses paid for, Johnson Scholars also receive $7,000 to support summer experiences — such as internships, volunteer programs or research projects — while at the university.

Growing public-school trend
Even though merit scholarships continue to be controversial, their use has been expanding at public colleges around the country.

A study released this year by the New America Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-base, nonpartisan think tank, found that merit aid at U.S. four-year public colleges has increased markedly. The study was based on the use of non-need-based aid at 424 public four-year colleges and universities.

In 1995-96, students who were receiving merit aid totaled 8 percent. By 2007-2008, it had risen to 18 percent.

By contrast, during the same period, the share of students receiving need-based aid had risen only from 13 percent to 16 percent.

The study also found that public colleges that provide substantial amounts of merit aid to students tend to enroll more out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition than in-state students.

Monks at the University of Richmond says that money matters when it comes to recruiting the very best students. “It takes a meaningful amount of money to make a meaningful yield,” he says.

Funke, the UR senior, says the university went the extra mile, flying her “on their own dime” to Richmond so that she could be certain the school was the right fit.

The relationship has been fruitful  for the student and the school.

In April, Funke, a double major in mathematics and computer science, won a Goldwater Scholarship, the country’s premier undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, science and engineering.

Sweet Briar College’s rescue by its alumnae sparked national headlines in June, with television crews and print journalists descending in droves on the 3,250-acre Amherst County campus just north of Lynchburg.

Now, the future of the 114-year-old women’s college becomes a math problem.

President Philip Stone, who was officially installed Sept. 25 after the resignation of his predecessor and the college’s board, says that to remain in business and balance the books Sweet Briar must increase its enrollment to about 800 students in the next few years. That would represent the largest number of students in the college’s history. 

Sweet Briar’s on-campus enrollment in September was 248, including a thin freshman class of 38.  But college officials point out that, after Sweet Briar’s closing was announced in March, recruitment efforts ceased, and a number of Sweet Briar students transferred to other schools. Recruiting now has resumed with intensity.

The college’s previous administration cited declining enrollment as one of the reasons for closing the school. The number of students on campus had dropped to 561 last year, a 14 percent drop over six years.

Stone has a good track record for improving enrollment. He was president of Bridgewater College from 1994 to 2010, and in his first 10 years on the job enrollment grew by 78 percent.

Besides increasing its student  body, Stone says Sweet Briar also must raise more money to strengthen its endowment, which currently totals about $68 million, while reducing annual withdrawals from 10 percent to 5 percent of its value.

In addition, the school must cut expenses other than salaries by 20 percent.

The college also must keep its eye on its debt. A liquidity provision in its bonds requires that Sweet Briar’s expendable resources exceed its debt by a margin of 10 percent on June 30, the end of its fiscal year. In other words, the college must have $1.10 for every $1 of debt to avoid triggering a bond default. Expendable resources include almost any asset that is not permanently restricted, such as certain endowment funds, college officials say.

Stone points out that the college has a cushion, thanks to a ruling by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring.  In June, Herring consented to the release of restrictions on $16 million from the college’s endowment for ongoing operations.
Sweet Briar has a current outstanding bond debt of about $25 million. Stone says the college has never missed a payment on its bond debt and does not intend to.

An improbable year
The saga of Sweet Briar College could make a movie, and perhaps it will. College officials are creating a marketing campaign that will chronicle its improbable year.

Stone, a lawyer, has had a remarkable year of his own. He never applied to be Sweet Briar’s president. Interested parties called him out of the blue, after hearing that he would be willing to help out.

“Do you think you can save this place?” one caller asked. “I will do it,” Stone recalls saying, in accepting the job at the age of 72.

When he started work at the college on July 3, “I had no senior staff remaining and urgent business to take care of,” Stone says. Sweet Briar’s highly popular study abroad program had been shifted to another women’s college; so had its nationally known equestrian program. They have since been returned to the college.

Stone received 1,800 emails during his first week in office.  He has a simple strategy for saving Sweet Briar: “Get students and get funds.”

The previous administration announced in March that it was closing the college at the end of August because of what it described as insurmountable financial problems. Among other factors, it cited a trend away from women’s colleges, especially those in rural areas like Sweet Briar.

To increase enrollment, Stone says, one strategy will be to seek international students, targeting parents who can afford to pay for an American education but also favor their daughters being in a peaceful,  rural environment.

Passionate alumnae
Stone praises the college alumnae, who formed a group called Saving Sweet Briar to prevent the college from closing.   After a series of legal battles, the alumnae prevailed in mediated negotiations to keep the school open at least one more academic year.

Alums raised $12 million in cash in about 100 days, while gathering pledges totaling $29 million that will be paid over several years.

Teresa Pike Tomlinson, a fiery Sweet Briar alumna (Class of ’87) who is mayor of Columbus, Ga., now chairs the college’s new board of directors. “We have found a tremendous untapped capacity among Sweet Briar alumnae,” she says, citing their resources and passion to see the school survive.

Tomlinson says Sweet Briar graduates inspired many people with their tenacity, carrying out sophisticated legal and fund­raising efforts to keep the school’s doors open.

“It’s been a topic of conversation not only in Virginia but all across the country. We’re all rooting for Sweet Briar to have success,” says Robert Lambeth, president of the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia.

Sweet Briar alumnae have responded not only with their pocketbooks, but also with a lot of elbow grease. Hundreds descended on the campus during the summer to clean, paint and wash the buildings.

Some alums even volunteered to teach. One of them is Leigh Ann White (Class of ’86), who joined the economics department as a visiting assistant professor. Until June, she was an executive with Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen, a major biotech company.

White holds a master’s degree in demography from Georgetown University and earned her doctorate in health economics and health policy at Johns Hopkins University. “I just loved going to Sweet Briar, and I wanted to save the college,” she says. “It seemed like something I needed to do. It mattered.”

Amelia Currin, a freshman from North Carolina, is among the small group of students who, against all odds, enrolled in the college this year. “I have witnessed a powerful group of women rise up in the form of Saving Sweet Briar and leverage their clout to overcome insurmountable odds. Who would not want to stand strong among their ranks?” Currin asks.

Stone says the passion of people like Currin and White will help the college get back on its feet. “We want to make history together,” he says.

Few, if any, college presidents have as many family ties to the institution they lead and the region in which their institutions are located as W. Taylor Reveley IV, president of Longwood University since 2013.

He should not be confused with his father, W. Taylor Reveley III, the president of the College of William & Mary.

And he certainly should not be confused with his grandfather, the late W. Taylor Reveley II, who was president of another Farmville-area institution, Hampden-Sydney College.

Reveley’s ties to Longwood include a great-grandfather who was a biology professor there. He also is the grandson, great-grandson and great nephew of Longwood graduates.

All of these ties help explain the affection that Reveley, a Richmond native, has for Longwood and the Farmville area. “I spent some of my happiest moments as a child here in Farmville,” Reveley says. “Farmville has the soul of a college town.”

Changing local economy
Farmville once was an industrial and railroad hub. Now, the three legs of its economy are retail, health care and education.  Employment in those sectors is led by the sprawling Green Front Furniture store, Centra Southside Community Hospital and the two colleges.

Founded in 1839, Longwood is the third-oldest public university in the state. It has about 5,000 students and offers more than 100 majors.

The university has more than 900 employees, including 248 instructional faculty and more than 300 classified employees. Longwood, its employees, students and visitors spend $49.4 million in Farmville annually, according to a recent economic impact report. Students alone spend more than $20 million in the community.

Many university employees are from Farmville and other nearby communities. “I’m a product of Southside Virginia, born in Martinsville. Longwood is a plum job,” says Ken Copeland, the university’s vice president for administration and finance.

Region’s revival
Reveley, however, believes that Longwood’s role as an economic engine isn’t limited to how many people are on its payroll.  “It is inextricably tied to its educational mission,” Reveley says. “The best way an institution can serve its region is to do what it’s best at, which is educating students.”

The surrounding rural region formerly was a powerhouse for tobacco farming, furniture manufacturing and textile production.  But those industries have waned.

The area is trying to reinvent itself by attracting new industries and putting an emphasis on training at all levels. Overall, the region has experienced a higher unemployment rate than much of the commonwealth and has a relatively low number of college graduates.

Thirteen percent of residents over age 18, for example, have earned at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with a state average of 32 percent, according to a recent community profile of the Commonwealth Planning District, which  includes Amelia, Buckingham, Charlotte,

Cumberland, Lunenburg, Nottoway and Prince Edward counties.

“We’ve got a vital role to play in helping Southside take full steps into the knowledge economy,” Reveley says.
 
Keeping costs down 
As Longwood’s president, Reveley is focused on improving student retention and graduation rates.

This year, the retention rate — measuring the percentage of freshmen who return as sophomores — ticked up from 78 to 82 percent. In addition, Longwood’s six-year graduation rate has been running about 65 percent.

Keeping tuition under control also is one of Reveley’s top priorities. “I’m certainly very proud that Longwood has had the lowest tuition increases by far, cumulatively, of any [four-year public institution in Virginia, over the last two years. That’s particularly important for Southside students,” Reveley says.

For the 2014-15 academic year, Longwood’s total tuition and fees rose 2.1 percent to $11,580 for in-state students. For 2015-16, the same costs increased 2.8 percent to $11,910, according to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Longwood plans to increase its enrollment by 20 percent to 6,000 by 2025.  “Six thousand is a great number for a public university like Longwood,” Reveley says. “You can maintain the intimacy of scale at that number, while also having the economies of scale to do some big things.”

Students’ views
Longwood’s small-school feel made it a perfect fit for at least two students, Abby Early and Lily Black.

“I came for the smaller school, the small-school atmosphere. I really wanted a one-on-one with professors and not just be a number in a classroom,” says Early, a senior.

(University officials say that Longwood has the largest percentage of classes taught by full-time faculty of all public universities in Virginia.)

“I came to Longwood for the sense of community,” says Black, a sophomore. “I remembered, when I was touring, it was a smaller community, and it was definitely the feeling that I could meet someone new, but I could also see a lot of people on campus that I already knew.”

University projects
The university has $150 million in capital projects underway to help accommodate its growing student population.

Projects include dormitories and a new student commons. The university also has established a variety of off-campus apartment communities for students who would rather not live in dormitories.

One of the defining changes in Longwood’s campus came in 2004 with the creation of Brock Commons, a pedestrian mall with trees, plants, fountains and a large tiered plaza.

Brock Commons replaced a narrow street that once divided the campus. A $3 million gift from Joan Brock, a 1964 graduate, and her husband, Macon, a co-founder of the Dollar Tree store chain, helped cover the cost of the $7.5  million project. “They’ve been great,” Reveley says.

He says state-supported institutions are becoming more reliant on philanthropy for growth and improvements.  “To have momentum for new initiatives, you really have to look to philanthropy,” he says.  “That also means helping alumni develop the habit of engaging with their alma mater philanthropically.”

When he took office in 2013, the university was completing a $41 million fundraising campaign, the largest in its history.

Town-gown ties
Making Farmville more of a student-oriented community is a goal for the town and the university.

“What is good for Farmville is good for Longwood, and what is good for Longwood is good for Farmville. It’s clearly a two-way street,” says Mayor David Whitus, a member of the Longwood class of 1983. 

Carol Broadwater says that Farmville business owners have a great interest in making the downtown welcoming to students and their parents. She and her husband, Richard, opened Amish Originals, a custom furniture store on Main Street 17 years ago.

She sees her sales spike during parents’ weekends and other college events that attract people to Farmville.  “Ninety percent of our sales come from outside Farmville, and 50 percent come from Richmond,” she  explains.

Farmville maintains robust retail sales for a small town. Last year, sales totaled more than $352 million.

Longwood’s Small Business Development Center helped recruit a new Farmville eatery, Uptown Coffee Café, after students expressed interest in more places to eat and shop.

Last year, the center led 69 training seminars that helped create or retain 246 jobs and assisted in generating $7.5 million in new capital, across the region it serves, which stretches from Patrick County in the west to Emporia in the east.

Sheri McGuire, executive director of the university’s Small Business Development Center, says that in the past economic development focused on recruiting big industries that might create a large number of jobs at one time. But over the years, there has been a growing awareness that small businesses are a leading force in job creation.

Shaping citizen leaders
In 2007-2008, Longwood raised its profile by starting to compete at the Division 1 level in intercollegiate athletics.

Recently, Longwood scored a coup sure to raise its national profile by being selected to host the single vice-presidential debate for the 2016 election. It is scheduled for Oct. 4, 2016.

Reveley also has sought to enlarge upon the region’s association with one of the biggest turning points in history: the civil rights movement.

In 1951, students at Moton High School in Prince Edward County —  a school for African-Americans — walked out of classes and began a two-week strike to protest overcrowded and inferior conditions at the school. They were led by 16-year-old Barbara Johns.

A suit filed by the students and their families became a part of Brown vs. Board of Education, the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision that in 1954 declared segregation in public education was unconstitutional.

In July, the university formalized a relationship with the Moton Museum, pledging operational support, along with help in fundraising, marketing and other areas. The museum is located in the former high-school building.

Reveley said the affiliation provides an opportunity to enhance the university’s long-stated mission to shape citizen leaders, just as Barbara Johns led students out of Moton High School and stepped into history.

Revisions are currently underway to center the university’s general education curriculum on citizen leadership, creating what university officials believe will be a distinctive niche in higher education.

Reveley observes that Longwood is at the crossroads of history, bookended by the Civil War and Civil Rights.

Gens. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant marched past the north end of campus during Lee’s retreat toward Appomattox, where the Civil War ended.

An imposing statue erected by Confederate veterans and the Daughters of the Confederacy lies just across from Longwood’s main buildings. Meanwhile, the Moton Museum lies at the south end of the campus.

“Farmville and Longwood are intensely historic places,” Reveley says, pausing for emphasis. “Really drawing attention and amplifying that deep history is a powerful thing, and I think that has resonated nationally.”