SMU Community College Scholarships Open Doors to Transfer Students

DALLAS (SMU) – From seeking tutoring for challenging classes to attending her first Octoberfest, SMU junior transfer student Raissa Umwali is following the right steps to a great campus experience. She is attending SMU on a full-tuition North Texas Community College Scholarship, awarded each year to 10 transfer students from surrounding community colleges.

“It took time to get used to the rigor and pace,” Raissa said. “But sometimes the things that look the scariest from afar aren’t that scary when they get closer.”

Originally known as the Dallas-Area Community College Scholarship when it was created in 2004, the community college scholarship has expanded to also include students from Collin, Grayson, Kaufman, Navarro and Tarrant County community colleges. More than 275 students have received the transfer scholarship, one of the most generous offered at SMU and renewable for up to five terms.

The application deadline is April 1. Find out more about the North Texas Community College Scholarship (and other transfer scholarships) here.

To qualify for the North Texas scholarship, students must have completed 50 hours of transferrable community college work and achieved a 3.7 GPA. Letters of recommendation and extracurricular activities are also considered when selecting scholarship recipients. Winners are notified in June after the April 1 application deadline.

Research shows that transfer students like Raissa who become involved in campus activities and seek academic support when needed are most successful, says Kim Herman, SMU director of transfer admission.

A native of Rwanda and the daughter of academics there, Raissa moved more than 8,000 miles to Dallas in 2021 to attend the North Lake campus of Dallas College, joining cousins who already lived in the Dallas area. Raissa quickly felt at home in North Lake’s international community and became involved with Phi Theta Kappa, an honorary society for junior college students, serving as the organization’s president.

In her first term as a statistical science major at SMU, Raissa has become a member of the African Students Association and ministry groups FOCUS and Intervarsity. Although she lives in Irving, she spends her days on campus, accessing tutoring at SMU’s Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center, helping the Chaplain’s Office with social media during her campus job and often checking the campus calendar for events.

After graduation, Raissa would like to gain job experience in the U.S., then return to Rwanda to use her statistics experience with a nonprofit.

“I want to help people back home,” she says.

###

About SMU

SMU is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMUʼs alumni, faculty and more than 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, communities, and the world. Building on its history of excellence, the University has launched SMU Ignited: Boldly Shaping Tomorrow – a multiyear $1.5 billion campaign to empower outstanding students, to enrich teaching and research, and to enhance our campus and community.