The dawn of the 2023 spring semester also marks the beginning of a new scholarship at Bob Jones University. Known as the SC Pell Promise, this scholarship offers full-tuition coverage to qualifying residents of South Carolina. This is the second full-tuition program BJU offers to South Carolinians, following the BJU Fellows Scholarship announced in spring 2017.
According to Bobby Wood, BJU’s vice president of enrollment and marketing, last year’s admissions data demonstrated that a growing number of financially struggling families are still unable to afford college education despite the help of a Federal Pell Grant.
The BJU Fellows Scholarship does not address this need because its awards are based on academic merit. For many students, such scholarships are out of reach because their financial situation has already undermined their chances for academic merit in high school.
“Those students are kind of giving up on the college dream,” Wood said. “So we’re going to figure out another pathway.”
To create this pathway, BJU launched the SC Pell Promise, offering an affordable BJU experience to South Carolina families. Wood explained that the goal of establishing this scholarship was “to create opportunities for students who did not believe there was any opportunity to go to college.” He hopes that by offering this new scholarship BJU will extend the original Federal Pell Grant into an effective solution to the financial barrier faced by prospective students.
To qualify for the SC Pell Promise, students need to qualify for the South Carolina LIFE Scholarship and the Federal Pell Grant. The general requirements of these programs are (1) the equivalent of a high school diploma, (2) the student’s commitment to pursue college with diligence, and (3) financial information demonstrating insufficient funds to afford college. Students who are accepted into these programs can apply normally to BJU, and upon admission the University will automatically grant them the financial benefits of the SC Pell Promise.
In creating this scholarship, BJU seeks to deliver Christian liberal arts education to students in a way that financial situations previously undermined. “I think it gives them opportunity to come and be successful,” said Wood. “And I think that’s been one of the greatest things about Bob Jones University.”
Wood explained that by meeting the financial needs of prospective students, BJU will provide them with an education that will equip them to elevate their social status. In return, their participation in the BJU student body will benefit the University both financially and in fellowship. The end result is that these students will have a better foundation to raise their own families and provide for their education.
Wood encourages students to rejoice for others who are benefitting from this program, even if they themselves do not qualify for it. “One of the things as believers that we often have the privilege of doing is rejoicing when other people have access or opportunity to gain something that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to gain,” said Wood.
“It’s an opportunity for us to have some really, really awesome students here that are going to sharpen the quality of the whole student body,” Wood said. The launch of the SC Pell Promise this semester provides an inlet for new iron to come sharpen iron on the BJU campus and creates an exciting prospect of fellowship for God’s glory.
