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When it comes to available scholarship money, students may not be aware of what’s out there. For example, did you know there is a scholarship available for someone who has a history of working at carnivals?
Yes, although that may not be a common prerequisite for optometrists, audiologists, physician assistants or any of the other professions one can learn at Salus, it does exist.
Over the past few years, the number of students applying for scholarship opportunities has dwindled. Jaime Schulang, director of Student Financial Affairs at Salus University, thinks that potentially can be attributed to students being a bit overwhelmed with their academic duties and they simply may not want to add to their to-do lists.
“The main thing that we want students to know is to take some time, which is limited as a graduate student, to go out and look for scholarship opportunities,” said Schulang.
The website FastWeb is a great resource for different scholarship opportunities, as is the MySalus portal and the Salus website, which students can peruse for internal scholarships. The Student Financial Affairs office also emails students when external scholarship opportunities are available.
Adding to the process of applying is different scholarships have different criteria. Some require an application and an essay, while others require more time-consuming information, such as a video, to be submitted along with the application.
“The students have to determine what is the cost benefit of taking the time to fill out the application and do what’s required for the scholarship versus the amount that they’re getting,” said Schulang. “For example, if the scholarship is for $2,000, the student has to determine if it’s worth taking the time off from studying for that amount. It’s a decision the students have to make.”
The Student Financial Affairs office tries to make it as easy as possible for students to apply for internal scholarships. The University’s application takes a relatively short amount of time to complete. It usually involves the student filling out their name, address, phone number, email address and a brief essay.
“We’ve only done the scholarship applications over the past two years for certain funds. And, we expanded the number of funds that were awarded that way this year,” said Schulang.
Her suggestion — students should try and take advantage of any chance they can for “free money.” She suggests trying to carve out some time on breaks or between semesters to fill out applications. Certain scholarships have specific criteria, like the one for carnival workers.
“I would also encourage students to look around their communities. Many scholarships come across our desks that we wouldn’t necessarily inform students about,” said Schulang. “You never know when you meet certain criteria that you may get money for. And, if you are awarded an external scholarship, please let the financial aid office know.”
The University offers the following scholarships to entering students in each College. These awards are monetary gifts and do not require repayment:
The Provost’s Scholarship awards students up to $12,000 per year, awarded on a holistic basis. Individual programs determine the minimum GPA/test scores, among other attributes, for eligibility as well as renewability. The admissions application serves as an application for the scholarship.
The Dean’s Scholarship awards students up to $10,000 per year, which is also awarded on a holistic basis. Individual programs determine the minimum GPA/test scores, among other attributes, for eligibility as well as renewability. The admissions application serves as the scholarship application.
For the Pennsylvania College of Optometry program at Salus, internal as well as external scholarships are open for students to apply. These scholarships are created to help students get a great education for less financial burden. If you meet certain academic criteria, you may be eligible for scholarships that do not need to be repaid. For entering Doctor of Optometry Traditional and Accelerated Scholar students combined, there’s an average of $260,000 available for students through scholarships. A list of external scholarships are posted here with a brief description of each scholarship, and the gifted amount.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has generously granted funds to Salus University, which is to support Doctor of Optometry students who are legal residents of Pennsylvania at the time of matriculation. For the entering Fall 2023 class, the individual awards of $5,500 to $6,250. Future awards are dependent on continued support from the Commonwealth. Please note that these funds do not require any repayment obligation. For details, click here.
For Osborne College of Audiology internal scholarships, one is offered in honor of George S. Osborne, the College’s founding dean. This award is a merit-based scholarship awarded to second-and fourth-year on-campus Doctor of Audiology (AuD) students. Awards range from $5,000 to $15,000 per year, and are renewable for four years. Recipients will be selected in late February and notified of their award prior to the start of the program. Applicants to the program are encouraged to complete admissions requirements prior to February of the year of desired enrollment into the program to be considered for this scholarship. An average of $135,000 in internal scholarships are available for Doctor of Audiology on-campus students at the time of entrance to the program. There are a few external scholarships listed here for Doctor of Audiology students. Some of them have specific specifications, so make sure to read the descriptions carefully to see if the qualifications are met.
While at this time, a smaller amount of internal scholarships are offered to Physician Assistant (PA) Studies, Occupational Therapy (OT) and Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) students, there is a large amount of external scholarships available to these students. All three programs also provide minority specific scholarships as well. When entering the program, the OT department distributes roughly $32,000, SLP distributes $20,000, and the Blindness & Low Vision Studies (BLVS) department distributes $15,000 and is offering for a limited time, 50 percent tuition discount for applicants working at Pennsylvania-based agencies.
