NEW SCHOLARSHIPS RECOGNIZE MILITARY SERVICE
Two Wesleyan alumni each have made substantial gifts to create need-based scholarships for former servicemen and servicewomen for four years of full-time baccalaureate study. These new gifts, reported in a page-one USA Today story, will fund as many as 10 scholarships at any given time.
One of the donors, Frank Sica ’73, described the reasoning behind his gift this way: “I want to enable young men and women who have performed a service for our country to attend a premier liberal arts university. The government-provided college aid and pay scales for enlisted personnel are such that, unless these people received substantial aid, they could not pay the expenses associated with attending a place such as Wesleyan.
“Secondly, the armed forces consist of people from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds who have been working and training together for the duration of their service. My hope is that Wesleyan, because of its diversity, will enable them to be more comfortable than at other small liberal arts institutions.”
Jonathan Soros ’92 said: “I want to help reduce the disconnect between policymakers and the military. For many at a liberal arts college, interacting with the men and women of the military is not part of their experience. I see a real educational opportunity in which veterans benefit from a liberal arts education, and the community benefits by learning from people of different backgrounds and confronting realities they wouldn’t otherwise directly encounter. Servicemen and -women demonstrate an admirable call to duty, and I think they can inspire all of us to public service.”
Wesleyan admits students without regard to their financial circumstances and then provides a financial aid package that meets each student’s full demonstrated need. Forty percent of its 2,900 students currently receive grant aid. The average grant is $27,151. Wesleyan currently budgets $35.4 million of its own resources annually for grant aid for undergraduates. Federal and state sources contribute an additional $2.7 million.
“At Wesleyan, we help exceptionally smart, imaginative students find their capacities for leadership in the world beyond the campus,” said President Roth. “We are particularly grateful to Frank Sica and Jonathan Soros for hearing the potential resonance of this educational ideal for students who have experienced military service and for understanding how such students can help strengthen campus discourse. We are proud to be taking this initiative to support those who have served our country at the same time we are taking strides to make Wesleyan more affordable for students from all backgrounds.”