CCSU Honors Program Tests Students
Oct 15, 2016
By Nicholas Leahey
New Britain, CT- When Sara Ilnicki finally chose the college she wanted to attend her senior year of high school, all she could remember was the feeling of relief. Her hard work had finally paid off.
“I felt that a scholarship would be hard to pass up,” she said.
As a part of her application to CCSU, Ilnicki found time to apply to the Honors Program, a process she described as being very short in comparison to other Honors Programs she applied to. Upon her acceptance to CCSU, she was also offered a half-tuition scholarship for her first year.
Ilnicki’s story is one which is typical of students in the Honors program, where most students in the program receive up to full scholarships in exchange for their time in the program.
According to Dr. Paul Petterson, Director of the Honors Program, every year there are between 185 and 200 students who go through the program, while an average of 125 students receive some kind of scholarship.
Upon applying to the program, students are immediately eligible for half tuition scholarships, which can be upgraded to full tuition scholarships based on their academic performance. Students must achieve and maintain a 3.5 GPA in both honors and regular courses in order to obtain and retain a full tuition scholarship, while a 3.2 GPA must be achieved and maintained to obtain and keep a half tuition scholarship.
“We have the ability to give 34 full scholarships on average per academic year,” said Petterson, “the freshman class could have 34 full scholarships theoretically.”
In Ilnicki’s case, her scholarship fluctuated while in the program. “My scholarship has gone back in forth,” she said, adding that she struggled after her first year of honors classes. She was put on probation, and lost her scholarship the following semester.
All honors scholarships granted by the program are funded directly by the Board of Regents, with each of the four CSU schools, Eastern, Southern, and Western, receiving an allocation for use for scholarships. The scholarships are then given to students at the discretion of each school, due to the different requirements and standards each school has for their respective honors programs.
While no exact number was given, Petterson, who also heads the overall scholarship committee, indicated that the school normally receives upwards of more than $1 million allocated to its scholarship funds.
“The maximum number of scholarships we can give out is 136,” said Petterson, “but it usually averages around 125.
”Due to the varying number of students who participate in the honors program each year, it is a challenge for members of faculty and administration involved in the process to predict the number of scholarships which may be handed out from year to year. On average, however, Petterson claims the number of students stays consistently between 125 and 128 students.
“The numbers can change as a result of different cohorts,” said Petterson.
Admission to the honors program is dependent upon meeting certain specific criteria, and is open to high school graduates, students who have completed their first academic year, as well as transfer students who possess no more than one year of academic credits.
After going one semester without her scholarship, Ilnicki was able to get her honors GPA back up during the second semester. The elementary education major was grateful, and credits it all to her hard work ethic.