Cornell College in Mt. Vernon has announced a revamped scholarship program that guarantees new students $30,000.

Cornell Vice President for Enrollment Management Wendy Beckemeyer says the scholarship is automatic. “Cornell’s Iowa Promise Scholarship does not require any additional application. If a student is from Iowa — and they live on campus — they will get a $30,000 scholarship per year,” Beckemeyer says.

Beckemeyer says this approach makes the scholarship help they will get more clear to students and parents. “We’ve always heavily invested in our students — but this is a way for them to know from the very beginning what they can expect in terms of financial aid from the college,” she explains.

Beckemeyer says it can be confusing in trying to determine the cost of private versus public schools, and this information should make it easier. “The sticker price for a private institution is typically higher than would be true for any of the public institutions in a student’s home state. That is true in the state of Iowa as well. Cornell College is more expensive on the front end,” according to Beckemeyer. “But because private institutions invest their endowed dollars and their institutional dollars in student scholarships that are widely available — like the Iowa Promise Scholarship that we are offering — it brings the cost down substantially.”

She says the Iowa Promise Scholarship cuts the Cornell cost in half. “And then, if a student is eligible for the Iowa Tuition Grant of $6,200…they could actually end of paying less to come to Cornell College than would be true of the University of Iowa. And they would be a few thousand dollars within the range of Iowa State, and the University of Northern Iowa,” Beckemeyer says.

She says they typically have around 300 new students each year and an overall enrollment of 1,000. Beckemeyer says you can find out more about the scholarship and school, you can email [email protected].