ATLANTA—The Honors College at Georgia State University has created a scholarship program to help two-year honors students at Perimeter College successfully transition to being four-year honors students on the university’s Atlanta Campus.
The scholarship program is made possible by a $20,000 grant from the Georgia State University Foundation’s Board of Trustees and a $20,000 match by the Honors College.
The scholarship program, which will start in May, will provide up to 20 Trustees’ Scholars each year for two years with a one-time award of $1,000 to alleviate the cost of transitioning for students planning to complete a four-year degree.
“Providing some sort of financial assistance to honors students transitioning from Perimeter to Atlanta has always been a goal of mine,” said Lauri Goodling, associate dean of the Honors College who oversees honors students at Perimeter College. “There are financial barriers—increased tuition being a primary one—to making that transition and anything we can do to help encourage students is great.”
Goodling added that the Honors College has been working to increase the transition numbers over the past two years.
“I’m excited about the Trustees’ Scholars program because it tackles the honors-to-honors transition goal from a new direction: the financial one,” she said.
Thirty-six Perimeter Honors College students transitioned to the Honors College’s Atlanta Campus in academic year 2019-2020. Of those students, 21 were from Pell Grant eligible families, and their unmet financial need averaged nearly $12,000. So far this academic year, nearly 50 Perimeter Honors students have transitioned to the Atlanta Campus.
Eligible scholars must have completed at least four honors courses at Perimeter College and be in good academic standing within the Honors College at Perimeter.
With Georgia State’s 2016 consolidation with Perimeter College, the Honors College made the commitment to serve four-year and two-year degree-seeking students, providing them with smaller, more engaging classes, dedicated advisers and priority course registration, and unique opportunities for academic and career development.
“From the beginning of the consolidation, we have worked to ensure that we have one Honors College for the Georgia State community,” said Honors College Interim Dean Sarah Cook. “To the degree that we can make transitions from Perimeter College campuses to the Atlanta Campus more feasible, we make further progress on that goal.”