by Jessica Railey

The Alumni Association at Buffalo State College offers students scholarships every spring semester, and this year it will provide 17 opportunities ranging from $250 to $1,000 to graduate and undergraduate students.

The scholarships offered by the Alumni Association are offered once every spring semester. It is an annual appeal, differing from the scholarships that are available year round through the scholarship office.

“The scholarships are funded by alumni and friends of the college,” Jennifer Small, alumni events coordinator at Buffalo State said.

The scholarships are started either by an alum through an annual campaign where they donate to it every year, or through an endowment where the alum puts in a significant amount of money to keep it going every year.

Applications are available through the Alumni Association office (Grover Cleveland, Room 305), and online. Campus wide e-mails are sent to students to advertise the scholarships. Faculty are alerted to let students know about the scholarships as well.

The average number of applicants is usually 60 to 75 students. Last year only 65 students applied for the scholarships offered by the Alumni Association. As of fall 2004, 11,072 students were enrolled at Buffalo State , according to the Buffalo State website. Why don't more students apply? Students either may not take the time to check their e-mail, or they don't think the scholarships apply to them.

“There's always more ways to get the word out,” Jennifer Small, alumni events coordinator at Buffalo State said. “Promotion is what it's all about in terms of informing the students.”

The Alumni Association plans on taking other measures to advertise their scholarship opportunities.

Some ideas Small had about promoting the scholarships are having a representative from the Alumni Association:

•  attend USG meetings

•  work more with the Student Life office

•  advise representatives of campus organizations about the scholarships

•  set up a table in the student union

•  speak in classes

“Our office really needs to strive to reach out to the students … to let them know what the Alumni Association is all about,” Small said.

Ying Nee Ooi, a senior at Buffalo State , did not know if the scholarships would apply to her, simply because many scholarships don't because she is a transfer student from Malaysia .

“A lot of students don't check their e-mail because they don't think it pertains to them,” Ooi said.

“The e-mail isn't always effective,” Ooi said. “They need someone more credible, like a professor, to talk to the students,” she said.

Other Links: Student Life

Other scholarships on campus

Jessica Railey can be contacted at Railjl11@buffalostate.edu