Beginning this fall, Grinnell College will expand its in-state financial aid initiatives, offering a new $50,000 scholarship for top-performing Iowa students.
The Iowa Dean’s Scholarship will be awarded to students from Iowa who have a weighted GPA of 4.0 or higher, or have succeeded in their school’s most demanding curriculum, as the College determines. The scholarship is renewable for a total of eight semesters. The scholarship joins two existing offerings for Iowa students — the Iowa Access Initiative, which awards full-tuition scholarships to students from Iowa households earning less than $100,000 annually, and the Founders Scholarship, an automatic $20,000 scholarship for all admitted Iowa students.
By offering a substantial, merit-based award, Liz Lahn `17, who attended both Grinnell High School and Grinnell College, said that she thinks this new scholarship may draw the attention of high-achieving Iowa students and make Grinnell a more accessible option for those previously unaware of it.
She pointed out the scholarship will be beneficial in getting more guidance counselors and educators in Iowa to mention Grinnell College to prospective students, noting that she did not hear about Grinnell College in the communities that she lived in prior to Grinnell.
Current students from Fairfield, Eliot Gamble `29 and Emilio Estudillo `29, had similar sentiments, saying that the College was not well known among their high schools and town in Iowa.
“A guidance counselor at a small school hears about the scholarship and might think, ‘Whoa, that’s a big chunk of money; I should share this with this kid who I know is interested in this experience, who they otherwise wouldn’t have shared that with,’” Lahn explained.
Lahn also pointed out that the scholarship could be particularly appealing to middle-income families who may not qualify for substantial financial aid but still face the cost of attendance as a barrier.
“There are a good portion of high-achieving students in Iowa who do think ‘If I want the liberal arts, small, rigorous education I have to go to the East Coast,’” Lahn said, emphasizing that the scholarship reaches a demographic that often slips through the cracks for financial aid but needs a tangible incentive. This award might make it “doable for middle-class families,” with Lahn calling it “an awesome opportunity to pull some of those students and show that you can get this wonderful education here in Iowa already.”
“A $50,000 grant, that’s a pretty huge incentive to want to stay in Iowa and also see what Grinnell has to offer,” Gamble said. “You can go to the East Coast, but then they won’t even experience what Grinnell is like. And that could completely change their perspective and they could realize that it was better to stay in Iowa when they didn’t even consider that as an option.”
Lahn also highlighted that many students from her high school graduating class of 2013, one of the largest graduation classes of those that attended both Grinnell High School and Grinnell College, had a pre-existing connection to the College, such as being a faculty member’s child. Programs like The Associated Colleges of the Midwest Tuition Remission Exchange Program provide substantial tuition support for these students..
The Iowa Dean’s Scholarship complements these existing initiatives by expanding opportunities to Iowa students without prior connections, offering another pathway for high-achieving students across the state to access Grinnell’s liberal arts experience.
Moreover, Gamble emphasized the substantial financial commitment Grinnell demonstrates to its students as something that distinguishes the College. Grinnell allocates approximately 70% of its endowment to student financial aid, compared to the average of 42% among its peer institutions.
“That’s what makes them sort of unique in that way and sets them apart from their peers,” Gamble said. “It sort of makes you like them more, because they’re putting more trust in you. They’re like, ‘Okay, we believe in you. We are going to invest more money than any other institution and want to get you to want to come here.’”
He added that it creates a more engaging, respectful relationship between students and the College.
At a college that draws the majority of its students from beyond Iowa, Gamble, who is part of the just over 7 percent of students coming from Iowa in his year, recalled being jokingly called a “unicorn.”
The Iowa Dean’s Scholarship may also help with strengthening the relationship between the College and the surrounding town, helping bridge the “Grinnell bubble” that can sometimes separate students from the community. Lahn noted that she sees more interaction between students and the town than when she attended, with programs such as Dining Dollars encouraging students to go into town and explore local businesses.
