By Alex Crozier

Every chance for a student to grab some assistance on this year’s tuition is needed, and there are plenty of places to find it.

Scholarships can make or break a student financially, with tuition up to $31,160 a year in 2020-21 vs. last years cost of $28,560, scholarships are more important than ever. Thankfully many are given out every year to help with the rising of a degree.

While getting good grades is a solid path to ending up with financial assistance, sports scholarships seem just as likely.

The reality of the situation is that sports have a direct way of generating revenue for the school through ticket sales. Every time a sports scholarship is given it is an investment in the program’s own financial future. Coaches who provide incentives get better players to join which makes for better results in games and then at the ticket and merchandise booths. The situation is not so clear for other students, who don’t indirectly make the school money.

The music department does have the Virtuoso scholarship that is worth a substantial amount, paying for the majority of a student’s tuition. It helps the faculty persuade talented musicians to join QU over other universities. But the number of scholarships that department has compared to sports pales in comparison.

The different ways scholarships are funded impacts how they are distributed. Some are created through donations and are specified by the donor to be put to a certain field. Earlier this month a record breaking $900,000 was given to Quincy University to establish the John Mahoney scholarship for students majoring in the humanities. 

On April 29th the 31st Annual Scholarship Luncheon was held. The event honored more than 200 donors and the students who receive those donations.

While the framework for sports having a direct revenue source back to the school is already set up; the arts do not have a function nearly as popular as any odd football game. Arts events do exist, but the culture of the events is charitable. Many events being held for free and with an audience unwilling to pay more than that.

If this could change the money flowing through these events would end up back in the student’s hands (or out of the student debt accounts) through scholarships just like they do in the different sports departments.