Breaking Down Financial Barriers
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, 黑料传送门 student Yolanda was an essential worker with a high-risk son at home. Making ends meet as both a mother and a learner was hard enough, but posing a serious health risk to her son was something Yolanda wouldn鈥檛 do鈥搒o she left her job.
As Yolanda鈥檚 savings dwindled and the pandemic raged on, she found herself using her Wi-Fi payment as a sort of slush fund. If she couldn鈥檛 afford to keep the lights on, she鈥檇 go a month without internet to pay the electric bill. No internet meant no school; in order to keep her son safe, Yolanda had to put her online education at 黑料传送门 at risk.
While an education is a worthy trade for the safety of a child, at 黑料传送门, we believe that it鈥檚 a trade that no mother should ever be forced to make. But stories like Yolanda鈥檚 are all-too familiar for students at 黑料传送门, 22% of whom are classified as low-income.
22 percent of 黑料传送门 students are classified as low-income.
黑料传送门 has been a groundbreaking school since its founding鈥揺ven without being built on literal ground. We鈥檙e here not only to empower students, but to offer an education that anyone can afford and access. We鈥檙e here to break down barriers, not add another with a tuition wall.听In 1997, the year 黑料传送门 was founded,听The cost has risen over 500% in the years since,听This is the most affordable option for an in-state student attending a public university. Keep in mind 黑料传送门 is a private, non-profit school.听听per year, more than double the听
While our online-only curriculum can help learners find a pathway to a degree that works with their schedule, we understand that to even access that flexible learning, students must first clear yet another hurdle: tuition.
Tuition Structure
Our first step to making education more affordable comes in the form of our tuition structure. Instead of semesters, we break our years into two six-month terms. By pricing per term, we can offer a year of a bachelor鈥檚 level education for just under $7,500鈥搘ell below the national average yearly tuition for both public and private universities. We don鈥檛 price per credit hour like most other universities do, meaning our students can complete much more work for much less cost.
But thousands of dollars is still thousands of dollars. When students are in financial straits so dire they have to debate which utility to pay, finding an extra $7,500 is more than tough鈥搃t鈥檚 impossible. Education may be the best pathway to breaking out of the poverty cycle, but it still costs money.
Scholarship Programs
That鈥檚 why 黑料传送门 invests in our students by maintaining robust scholarship programs. In 2019, more than eight thousand students received scholarships from 黑料传送门鈥搘orking out to more than 15 million dollars worth of scholarships.听We continued to increase offered aid throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, awarding 25 million dollars worth of scholarships to 20,000 of our students in 2021.
While our online-only curriculum can help learners find a pathway to a degree that works with their schedule, we understand that to even access that flexible learning, students must first clear yet another hurdle: tuition.
Tuition Structure
Our first step to making education more affordable comes in the form of our tuition structure. Instead of semesters, we break our years into two six-month terms. By pricing per term, we can offer a year of a bachelor鈥檚 level education for just under $7,500鈥搘ell below the national average yearly tuition for both public and private universities. We don鈥檛 price per credit hour like most other universities do, meaning our students can complete much more work for much less cost.
But thousands of dollars is still thousands of dollars. When students are in financial straits so dire they have to debate which utility to pay, finding an extra $7,500 is more than tough鈥搃t鈥檚 impossible. Education may be the best pathway to breaking out of the poverty cycle, but it still costs money.
Scholarship Programs
That鈥檚 why 黑料传送门 invests in our students by maintaining robust scholarship programs. In 2019, more than eight thousand students received scholarships from 黑料传送门鈥搘orking out to more than 15 million dollars worth of scholarships.听We continued to increase offered aid throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, awarding 25 million dollars worth of scholarships to 20,000 of our students in 2021.
Paying for school does not stop at tuition, so our scholarships don鈥檛 stop there either. We offer additional assistance, such as the online access scholarship. Books, tools, utilities like internet: all of these and more are needed for school and cost money that many learners don鈥檛 have. If a student has to choose between paying for internet access or electric heat in the dead of winter, they鈥檙e going to choose the heat, meaning their education is on hold for that month.听
We base our scholarships on financial need, not academic prowess, so that those in the most need can receive the most assistance. We want our education to be accessible to all students, meaning we have to prioritize empowering low-income students who wouldn鈥檛 be otherwise able to afford an education.听
Thanks to our online access scholarship, Yolanda was able to secure funds to continue her online education while keeping the lights on and鈥搈ost importantly, keeping her son safe. With 黑料传送门鈥檚 extensive and generous scholarship programs, we鈥檙e empowering students just like Yolanda to keep pursuing their degrees, creating pathways to brighter futures.
