The Georgia State Honors College has created the Perimeter Transition Scholarship to relieve the financial burden for two-year Perimeter Honors students transferring to the downtown campus to pursue a four-year bachelor’s degree.
According to Georgia State News Hub, the scholarship program will start in May. There are 20 Trustees’ Scholar spots available every year for two years, and the Honors College will grant $1,000 to spot recipients.
Georgia State Foundation’s Board of Trustees and the Honors College co-funded the program, granting $20,000.
To be eligible for this scholarship, interested Perimeter students need to complete more than four honors courses at a Perimeter campus and keep good standing within the Honors College.
In the 2019-2020 academic year, 36 Perimeter Honors College students transitioned to the downtown campus Honors College. Twenty-one of them came from Pell Grant eligible families, but they still have significant financial needs. The average amount needed is almost $12,000 per person.
For the current 2020-2021 academic year, about 50 Perimeter Honors students have already transferred to the downtown campus.
Georgia State Honors College commits to serving both four-year and two-year degree-seeking students after the consolidation of Georgia State and Perimeter College in 2015.
Georgia State News Hub states that the Honors College provides students with “smaller, more engaging classes, dedicated advisers and priority course registration and unique opportunities for academic and career development.”
Honors College interim dean Sarah Cook told Georgia State News Hub that they “have worked to ensure that we have one Honors College for the Georgia State community.”
She thinks that the Perimeter Transition Scholarship program can help them “make further progress on that goal” by making it easier for interested Perimeter students to transfer to the downtown campus.
Associate Dean of the Honors College Lauri Goodling said that financially assisting Perimeter Honors students to transfer to the downtown campus “has always been a goal.”
“We have worked hard to make the honors-to-honors transition as seamless as possible for Perimeter students looking to continue at the Atlanta campus,” Goodling said. “The Trustees’ Endowment Scholarship is a huge piece of that work, and we are so happy to finally be able to offer honors students financial help with their next big step.”
Many Perimeter students are delighted to hear the transition scholarship announcement, like first-year student Ashley Park.
“I believe that the scholarship will actually encourage students to trans[fer] to Atlanta and complete a four-year degree,” Park said. “There are many factors that can go into this, however. I think that this will help a lot of students financially. College is very expensive, and the fact that Georgia State can provide a scholarship like this is really great.”
Nonetheless, she thinks that scholarship does not have enough spots available for students in need.
The application process is simple, and Goodling said that students who complete their transition application from Perimeter to Georgia State’s Atlanta campus are eligible for the program.
“Eligible students must have completed four honors courses at Perimeter, have been accepted as transition students to the Honors College at the Atlanta campus and be in good academic standing with a minimum 3.3 GPA,” Goodling said. “Priority consideration will be given to students receiving the Pell Grant, though all transitioning honors students are encouraged to apply.
She noted that the Honors College is opening the application in early March for the first round. The candidate pool will be students who made their transition between spring 2021 and fall 2021.
“Once the application becomes available in March, it will be shared directly with eligible students. Any student interested in joining the Honors College at Perimeter should contact perimeterhonors@gsu.edu,” Goodling said.
She encourages all scholars to “take advantage of the unique experiences afforded to them at the Atlanta campus.”
Various beneficial resources are available at the downtown campus. Resources and opportunities include paid research, work-study assistantships and academic and career exploration workshops.
Goodling is looking forward to seeing how this scholarship will benefit honors Perimeter students.
“We are thrilled to be able to offer these one-time awards to students who have stayed committed to honors education throughout their time at Perimeter and hope it helps to make the transition to the Honors College at the Atlanta campus even smoother,” she said.
In other recent news, the Georgia State Honors College will host the Beckman Scholars Program.
According to Georgia State News Hub, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation has chosen Georgia State to receive the Beckman Scholars Program Award. Georgia State is among 12 higher-education institutions nationwide to receive this award in 2021.
This program “creates research and mentoring opportunities for exceptional students majoring in biology, chemistry and neuroscience.”
Honors College interim associate dean Marise Parent told Georgia State News Hub that this program provides talented students plenty of professional development opportunities, leading them to be “well-positioned to pursue their graduate educations and careers.”
Being a neuroscience and psychology professor, Parent will supervise this program together with a couple of other departments, including the Center for the Advancement of Students and Alumni, the Neuroscience Institute and the biology and chemistry departments.
The Honors College will select two exceptional students and name them Beckman Scholars every year for three years, beginning this coming summer. The program will grant the two scholars $21,000 for undergraduate research support, and their faculty mentors will receive $5,000 over 15 months.
In addition to the money awarded, Beckman Scholars will also attend a three-day scholar event called Annual Beckman Symposium to introduce their newest research accomplishments and meet other scholars.
