This year, the University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi College are generously rewarding scholars who are hungry for success.
According to the University of Southern Mississippi’s website, transferring Phi Theta Kappa members will automatically have an annual $6,000 of scholarship money to their name. In addition, transferring PTK Officers will receive a yearly $1,000 on top of their current offer. To make the deal even sweeter, Southern Miss is offering an additional $1,000 per year to PTK scholars who earned a spot in their State/National academic team.
For students who have received all three of these offers, USM Admissions Recruiter Devin Chadwick had this to say: “Right now, you’ll have $8,000 from Phi Theta Kappa stuff alone. You could apply for Mississippi financial aid to get an extra $1,000 per year. Tuition is increasing a little bit next year, from $9,200 to $9,600 [per year] due to inflation. However, the Pell Grant could help cover this depending on your financial need.”
If one has all three of these scholarships, USM may be covering the vast majority of their tuition. This serves as a universal encouragement for all students to pursue success and academic rigor. Scholarship rewards like these show how well the effort pays off. Please note that applicants must have documentation available for all three of these accolades. Students must submit the documentation through USM’s Golden Opportunities scholarship application system. Each of these scholarships are awarded over the course of two years.
However, USM isn’t the only player in this scholarship game. Mississippi College has some intriguing offers to transfer students, as well.
It’s pretty easy to bring up MC’s latest brainchild in financial aid: the Leland Speed scholarship. In theory, if a student is a Mississippi resident, admitted to MC, and living on campus, MC covers their tuition in full. Sounds great, right? It does, but there are plenty of things still left to pay off. Room and board can cost anywhere from $6,000 to $15,000 per year. That doesn’t even include the meal plan necessary for on-campus living. Outside of federal and state grants, not many scholarships will “stack” with one’s current MC scholarship package to help cover room and board. That includes PTK-related scholarships and many other merit-based rewards. Grants such as MTAG and MESG will likely help a Speed recipient with room and board costs. Outside of this, what opportunities would one have to cover it?
If students research well enough, they may find some opportunities. For example, MC recently held an interview competition on campus for aspiring business students. The competition gave $1,000 to $3,500 in award money to those who won the competition. MC Marketing Coordinator Danielle Brown noted that “any money you win can be applied to room and board” from the competition.
In addition, MC will be hosting its Transfer Scholarship Competition again this year. Only, its reward will vary between Speed recipients and non-Speed recipients. For non-Speed recipients, scholarship amounts vary from $500 to $10,000 from this competition. However, Speed recipients receive a maximum of $1,000 from the competition, which would be applicable to room and board. Winning the maximum amount from both of these competitions still pits Speed recipients against MC’s above average housing costs. Nevertheless, aspiring MC transfers are still presented with many opportunities to cover the majority of their living costs at the university.
In summary, these two universities are doing great things for transferring students in Mississippi. Holmes students should keep their eyes peeled for more scholarship opportunities for the upcoming fall, and use the ones listed here to their advantage.
Photos courtesy of the University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi College.
