SMU broadens eligibility for four-year tuition & fees scholarships to Dallas County high school grads

DALLAS (SMU) – SMU is working to provide more students in the Dallas area with an opportunity for a valuable SMU education by expanding eligibility for an existing scholarship program and by partnering with Dallas County Promise for five new scholarships.

SMU will expand the opportunity to apply for 10 scholarships previously available only to DISD graduates. The expanded program, the Dallas County Mustang Scholarship, will award up to 10 four-year combined scholarship packages worth more than $225,000 each to cover full tuition and fees for eligible students who will graduate from any high school located in Dallas County.

High school seniors interested in the Dallas County Mustang Scholarship should complete the SMU admission application, the Mustang Scholars essay, the FAFSA and CSS Profile or TASFA by Feb.1, 2018.  Please visit www.smu.edu/mustangscholars to learn more.

Aiming to provide a bridge to SMU for students who begin their education in community college, SMU and Dallas County Promise are partnering in a new financial aid program – the SMU Mustang Promise Scholarship.  The new program will award up to five two-year scholarships annually to eligible high school seniors who have successfully completed the Dallas County Promise Program and plan to transfer to SMU after earning a qualifying associate degree from the Dallas County Community College District.

“There are future Dallas County leaders among the students attending high school in our community who may not get their best chance to lead because financial means is a barrier to an undergraduate college degree,” said Wes Waggoner, SMU associate vice president for enrollment management. “Expanding eligibility for some of our existing scholarships, and joining the Dallas County Promise Program, is going to be a great way to help identify these students as high school seniors and give them an opportunity to attend and graduate from SMU.”

Students selected to receive the Dallas County Promise scholarships will be eligible for free tuition for up to three years toward completing a degree at any DCCCD college. Each two-year SMU Mustang Promise Scholarship will then contribute to a full tuition and fees scholarship – an award worth more than $110,000 over the two-year period, allowing the students completing an associate degree from a DCCCD college to then complete their undergraduate degree at SMU.

To be eligible for the Dallas County Promise Scholarship, high school seniors at Promise-eligible high schools must complete the Dallas County Promise Pledge by Jan. 31, 2018; and apply for the fall semester at a Dallas County Community College and complete a FAFSA/TASFA by March 15, 2018. Full student information is available at www.dallascountypromise.org/students.

Waggoner added that students who apply for the two-year SMU Mustang Promise Scholarship also would be considered for other scholarships and financial aid available to SMU undergraduates. More than $90 million in academic and need-based aid is awarded to SMU undergraduates each year.

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