Student Interviews

SIUC is doing more outreach bringing students to campus. Some 320 students, and their families, from around the nation will attend scholarship interviews on campus this weekend. The students are interviewing for Chancellor's Scholarships, which cover tuition, fees and board for for years, as well as Excellence Scholarships, which award $9500 per year for 4 years. Bringing the students to campus is a great idea, as not only does it allow them to see t he campus, but the city as well.

Saluki Stay Scholarship

Announcement that the Chamber of Commerce is now accepting applications for the Saluki Stay Scholarship just arrived. If you meet the criteria, it is a pretty good deal:

  The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce is now accepting applications for the 2016 Saluki Stay Scholarship Program, an effort to assist with the retention of students at Southern Illinois University. One of the most unique scholarship programs at SIU, the Saluki Stay scholarship awards five returning students with in-kind gifts ranging from store gift cards and assistance with utility bills to meals in area restaurants. The total value of awards is expected to be nearly $1,500 each.

                To be eligible for the award, students must be enrolled full-time for the fall semester 2016, be juniors or seniors with at least a 2.8 grade point average, have attended SIU for at the last two years and must be employed by a current Carbondale Chamber of Commerce member in good standing. Preference will be given to students with demonstrated financial need. Completed applications are due April 30, 2016. Applications and additional information are available online at www.salukistay.com or at scholarships.siu.edu.

                The scholarship program is an effort of the Chamber’s Saluki Pride committee that works to strengthen relationships between Southern Illinois University and Carbondale’s business community. Dozens of Chamber-member businesses have make in-kind or cash donations to make the scholarships possible.

Saluki Stay Scholarship

The Chamber is now taking applications for this year's Saluki Stay Scholarship:

   The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce is now accepting applications for the 2015 Saluki Stay Scholarship Program, an effort to assist with the retention of students at Southern Illinois University. One of the most unique scholarship programs at SIU, the Saluki Stay scholarship awards five returning students with in-kind gifts ranging from store gift cards and assistance with utility bills to meals in area restaurants. The total value of awards is expected to be nearly $1,500 each.

                To be eligible for the award, students must be enrolled full-time for the fall semester 2015, be juniors or seniors with at least a 2.8 grade point average, have attended SIU for at the last two years and must be employed by a current Carbondale Chamber of Commerce member in good standing. Preference will be given to students with demonstrated financial need. Completed applications are due April 30, 2015. Applications and additional information are available online at http://carbondalechamber.com/carbondale/siu/for-students or at scholarships.siu.edu.

                The scholarship program is an effort of the Chamber’s Saluki Pride committee that works to strengthen relationships between Southern Illinois University and Carbondale’s business community. Dozens of Chamber-member businesses have make in-kind or cash donations to make the scholarships possible.

Mustache Auction.

Mayor Fritzler's auction of his mustache to benefit CCHS has gone national, or at least interstatal.

Poshard Turns Down Scholarship

Because of the controversy kicked up over the weekend, Maddie Poshard has decided to turn down the scholarship she received to SIUC.  I feel sorry for the poor kid, but, for a politician, her grandfather is pretty politically tone deaf.  With the difficulties that SIUC has suffered over the past couple of years, the administration needs to be as squeaky clean as possible and neither he nor Chancellor Cheng seem to realize this.

Maddie Poshard and SIUC

Here's the original story from the Tribune regarding President Poshard's granddaughter receiving a Presidential/Chanellor scholarship to SIUC this fall, which covers both her tuition and room and board, totaling approximately $20,000.  An important thing to note, as President Poshard pointed out in an interview with WSIU this morning, is that she also applied to, and received scholarships from, Xavier University and St. Louis University, as well as SIUC.  Those schools, however, cost about $50,000 per year, of which the scholarship would only cover approximately the same amount as the full scholarship as she is receiving from SIUC.

The reporter also notes that a current faculty member's (whom is not identified) daughter also received the scholarship this year and children of other faculty and staff members have won it in the past.

If she wasn't President Poshard's granddaughter, of course, there would be no story in this at all.  To avoid problems such as this in the future, perhaps the applications should have the student's name removed from them in the future, so that they earn the scholarship based solely upon merit, rather than any family connections.