WSU News Archive

Colleges use scholarships to meet institutional goals, but they have to pick their priorities, said Chio Flores, director of financial aid at Washington State University. Flores shared her thoughts on the topic at a session of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators on July 22, 2012. Some of her thoughts were in turn presented on July 23 in The Chronicle of Higher Education's blog titled "Headcount," by Beckie Supiano.

Flores

Most financial-aid administrators would agree that institutional priorities drive scholarship awarding. However, the strategic use of scholarships is often multidimensional and complex. Our schools' missions, wealth, size, and location are all factors that impact how we administer scholarships. As a director of financial aid at a four-year public institution, I know these factors continuously shape scholarship goal-setting on my campus. This is also the case for my co-presenter, Paula Luff, who oversees financial aid at a four-year private.

…. At my institution, scholarship administration must become more efficient and intentional. Like many four-year public institutions, we engage in tuition discounting and fundraising to help address our scholarship goals. While we can't possibly achieve all of our goals, we know that some decisions can carry more weight than others. As a result, mission clarity has become much more integral to our work.

Click the following link to read the entire Chronicle blog article.