The STAR Scholarship halves the cost of tuition for qualified students
For 10 years, Wilmington University’s STAR Scholarship has enabled stellar students to launch their careers with a bachelor’s degree they can afford. Recent revisions to this financial assistance program — part of WilmU’s partnership with Delaware Technical Community College — put higher education within reach of even more students.
“The STAR Scholarship demonstrates Wilmington University’s mission to give back to Delaware,” says Lindsay Rice, WilmU’s director of Academic Partnerships. “It’s creating accessible and cost-effective educational opportunities for some of the state’s most motivated learners.”
The program builds on the state-backed SEED (Student Excellence Equals Degree) Scholarship, which awards full or partial funding toward two-year associate degrees for qualifying graduates of Delaware’s high schools.
WilmU’s STAR Scholarship, in turn, offers a 50 percent tuition reduction to SEED Scholarship students who have earned their associate degree at DelTech and are aiming to complete their educations with bachelor’s degrees.
As of May 2019, the STAR Scholarship has expanded its eligibility criteria, inviting any SEED-sponsored DelTech associate degree graduate with a grade point average of 3.25 or higher to apply. The GPA requirement was changed from 3.5 to match the existing qualifications for Delaware Tech’s honors program.
Other eligibility requirements include enrolling in a WilmU bachelor’s degree program within six months of associate degree completion; attend- ing fall and spring semester classes full-time (12 credits per semester); and maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.0.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to gain an education without crushing debt,” says Rice. “With the help of SEED and STAR, DelTech and WilmU, they can earn a bachelor’s degree for tuition of less than $13,000.”
Hundreds of students have benefited from the STAR Scholarship since its inception in 2008. The program has a 95 percent graduation rate, with the average GPA of graduates at 3.8.
Many of the scholarship program’s participants have an eye on education. As of 2019, nearly a quarter of them have earned or are studying toward a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education (Grades K–6). Bachelor’s degrees in Behavioral Science, Criminal Justice and Business Management have also been popular choices.
The STAR Scholarship took its name from the Student Transition to Academic Readiness Act, the Delaware Senate’s unsuccessful 2007 attempt to fund a statewide bachelor’s degree version of the SEED Scholarship.
For more information about Wilmington University’s scholarship programs, including the STAR Scholarship, please visit wilmu.edu/scholarships.