- September 8th, 2015, 8:20 pm
#490924
BJ, thanks for the e mail and congratulations on the new addition to your family coming in January! Good to hear from you. YR, I know you are still emotional about this decision but here are the facts again: 1. LU started giving scholarships to local Christian schools in the 90s. Students who attended 9-12 grade at LCA received 25% of their LU tuition per year of attendance. Timberlake, Temple and Faith Christian received 75% of that amount. 2. In early 2012, Liberty announced that the 25% per year scholarship would no longer be available but all students enrolled at that time were grandfathered. 3. Liberty announced in 2012 that LCA students would receive 10% of their Liberty tuition as a scholarship per year of attendance at LCA and, unlike in previous years under the old deal, announced that this 10% award was not guaranteed in future years and could be terminated at anytime. The goal was to avoid creating expectations among families with students who enrolled at LCA during the 2011-12 school year or later. 4. This week LU announced that the 10% scholarship would end after May of 2016. 5. It was also announced that all students who were enrolled at LCA before 2012 will still receive the 100% (25% per year) scholarship for their high school years. EVERY STUDENT NOW ENROLLED AT LCA WILL BE GRANDFATHERED IN THAT EVERY ONE OF THEM WILL RECEIVE WHATEVER SCHOLARSHIP THEY HAVE EARNED. 5. Liberty even enhanced the scholarship for parents who enrolled after 2012 and were told not to count on the scholarship continuing indefinitely. If those students graduate from LU, they will be eligible for other institutional aid from LU like any other LU student and they can stack this aid on top of whatever 10% scholarships they have earned at LCA. For a student who has attended 4 years at LCA since 2012, that would mean about 38% in scholarships on top of the 40% they have already earned for a 78% discount. Even students who enrolled at LCA after 2012 and who leave LCA before graduating will still receive whatever scholarships they have earned but without the stacking enhancement. Our goal was to make the transition as painless as possible for as many students and to go the extra mile by doing much more than was ever promised - even after local Christian school graduates from these four schools received $53.4 million from LU in the last 10 years. All the high schoolers now attending the other three schools will be grandfathered as well.
We are providing more financial aid than ever and these changes were necessary to ensure that $109 million in aid that we give to residential students every year is distributed in the fairest and most equitable manner possible. And YR if the disclaimer is still included, it is not so that benefits already earned can be revoked. We have never done that and never would do that absent financial exigencies.
I typed all this out without running it by all the financial aid guys after receiving BJ's e mail so if I made a mistake, tell me and I'll correct it. SJ, good to see you are still posting on here. Are you coming to any football games this year? BG, his wife and new baby visited this past weekend. Always great to see any of the LUNATICS. You guys were the first students we got to know after taking this job!
And ALUMNUS, LU is not "cutting ties" with LCA or other local Christian schools. LU has supported LCA's (and TRBC's) mission as much as our corporate documents will allow and our board is exploring ways to continue that support in new and creative ways in the future.