DePauw Stories

Access to the Dream

How financial aid is shaping DePauw’s future

It’s hard to imagine DePauw without students like Ava Rennard ’26. As a first-year mentor, a tour guide in the admission office and the president of Delta Gamma, Rennard has become the quintessential example of campus leadership and service. Yet her story easily could have turned out differently.

“I wasn’t sure I was going to stay at DePauw,” she said. “When I came here, my life was in a really big transition.”

At the time, Rennard was dealing with challenges on multiple fronts. Like many first-year students, she was learning how to adjust to an entirely new environment away from her home in Noblesville, Ind., and she was also navigating some difficult dynamics in her personal and family life.

But the biggest threat to her future at DePauw was a matter of dollars and cents. “When it came to not knowing if I was going to stay, for me, it was financial,” she said.

Rennard’s predicament is not uncommon. For many talented and ambitious students just like her, financial considerations play a significant role in accessing four years of a DePauw education. When taking into account tuition, housing, meals and fees, DePauw’s sticker price can be daunting at first glance. Although the figure is on par with many of DePauw’s peer institutions, it is understandable that families might question how such an expense fits into their budgets.

Despite the challenges, Rennard soon discovered what so many DePauw students have come to know: she now belonged to a community that cares for each person as an individual.

“There are so many resources on campus that are willing to help,” she said. “I was able to go to the financial aid office and sit down with someone who said, ‘We want you to be here. Can we help with more aid? Can we help with loans? How can we get this figured out?’ That’s what it was for me. That’s when I realized this is where I was meant to be.”

From Dream to Reality

Rennard is in good company. In fact, among currently enrolled students at DePauw, more than 90 percent receive some form of financial aid. It’s a statistic that reflects the remarkable achievements of each student on campus, as well as the university’s commitment to making its world-class liberal arts education accessible to anyone who has what it takes to succeed, regardless of their family’s financial resources.

“Almost all of our admitted students tell us that scholarships and financial aid are important or very important in their enrollment decision,” said Mary Beth Petrie, vice president for enrollment management. “For many middle income families, $5,000 to $10,000 per year is the difference in making their dream of attending DePauw a reality. Students who are unable to access scholarships and aid to overcome that difference find their dreams at DePauw inaccessible.”

Some of the funds that help families close the financial gap come from outside sources, such as local community foundations or nationally recognized scholarship programs. Yet a significant percentage comes from within DePauw, drawing from the resources the university has set aside to honor students’ academic achievements and help meet each student’s unique financial need. These scholarships play a crucial role in establishing DePauw as a preferred destination for the most qualified prospects.

“There is a direct correlation between scholarships and enrollment,” Petrie said. “Bright and high-achieving students are attracted to DePauw, and they have many options to attend excellent colleges with scholarship offers. With great scholarship offers, DePauw can be more competitive in attracting top students. That also gives DePauw greater degrees of freedom in selecting students for admission and raising DePauw’s institutional profile, making every DePauw degree even more valuable.”

A Long-Term Impact

Meeting financial need isn’t just about creating an institutional advantage, however. More importantly, it’s about providing a transformative impact that will forever shape the lives of the students who receive it. Not only do scholarships and financial aid grant access to everything DePauw has to offer – including dedicated faculty, innovative learning environments and a vibrant campus life – but they also open the door to opportunities far beyond each student’s four years in Greencastle.

Sheraya Smith ’20 can relate. As a young alumna with a degree in computer science, Smith has already experienced more in just a few years than most people do in an entire lifetime. And she credits much of this experience to the scholarship that brought her to DePauw and allowed her to pursue her education free from financial pressure.

“My parents suggested that I apply for the Rector Scholarship,” said Smith, a native of Crawfordsville, Ind. “I ended up receiving the scholarship, and that pretty much sealed my plans to come to DePauw. At the time, that wasn’t how I had ideally planned things to go. But looking back, I see now that it was such a huge gift and has set me up so well in many different ways.”

One of the most important aspects of Smith’s DePauw experience was a study abroad semester she spent in New Zealand during her junior year. For her, it was an ideal blend of academics and adventure in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It was also the inspiration for an unconventional career goal that she would eventually set for herself after graduation – a goal to work for a predetermined period of time before taking an extended sabbatical to explore the world, serve others and cultivate her deep love of the outdoors.

After three years of employment with the company where she had previously been a summer intern, Smith followed through on her plan. She started with a six-week road trip across the northern United States, eventually making it to Alaska while visiting seven national parks along the way. Shortly thereafter, she embarked on a pair of 10-week service trips – one to Belize and one to South Africa. But the pinnacle of her sabbatical was the 200-day hiking expedition that took her through 14 states along the entirety of the Appalachian Trail.

Through it all, Smith grew as a person, tested her physical limits and enjoyed the culture of reciprocal generosity that unites fellow travelers on the trail. She walked away with tired legs and an insightful realization about herself and the close relationship between her own independence and need.

“I was carrying everything that I needed on my back, and it was my feet that were causing me to go from mile to mile,” she said. “But that’s only part of the story. I also realized just how vulnerable I was and how dependent I became on others.”

Where Support Meets Success

Smith’s realization reveals an important paradox – one that is just as true for a hiker in the Appalachian Mountains as it is for a student in Asbury Hall: when it comes to chasing one’s dreams, we can all use a little bit of help.

“Offering students substantial scholarships or financial aid that meets their calculated need has the potential to change their lives,” said Petrie. “It means elevating students to opportunities they dream of. That opportunity coupled with a DePauw education has an exponential effect on the community as these students leave DePauw to make an impact on the world.”

This is a vital part of the DePauw story. Through their own diligence and relentless self-discipline, generations of DePauw students have earned the right to continue their education in a place they can trust to equip them for a lifetime of success. Yet for many of these same students, the generosity of others and the support of the university community have played a vital role in making that education accessible and affordable.

Smith has a deep appreciation for this aspect of her DePauw experience. “The reason I was able to do this sabbatical year was, in large part, because of the Rector Scholarship,” she said. “Because of the Rector, I was able to graduate without debt, and that set me up so beautifully for this opportunity. I have so much to thank DePauw for.”