Southeastern ranked among best colleges for financial aid
by: Rene Abadie
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University has been ranked among the top 50 colleges in the country for the financial aid packages it offers to its students.
The web site BestColleges.com ranked the university 45th for its institutional scholarships that cover tuition and housing assistance for incoming freshmen based on their qualifications. The amount of a student's award varies according to the applicant's high school GPA and ACT scores.
"The costs associated with higher education have certainly risen, especially over the last several years," said Enrollment Services Director Lori Fairburn. "We recognize that fact and are working in every way to help reduce the financial burden students are facing."
She said most of these students also qualify for the state-sponsored TOPS scholarship program, which provides cash awards to be applied to tuition costs.
Fairburn said that in addition to scholarships awarded to incoming freshman, Southeastern also awards scholarships to students transferring from other institutions if they meet certain criteria. The Sen. Ben Nevers Transfer Scholarship was established several years ago to assist those students transferring from community colleges or other institutions.
Other scholarships and financial aid assistance are available to students through the university's work-study program. Departmental scholarships are available to students according to their academic discipline and completer scholarships are available to students within one year of graduation.
BestColleges.com states that rankings are developed through the use of student and faculty surveys, independent research, other ranking systems and input from credible and authoritative sources, such as the U.S. Department of Education.
The full report with a complete list of rankings is available online at http://www.bestcolleges.com/features/best-financial-aid/.
