A year after its inception, the Miami Access Initiative has, according to university officials, increased the socioeconomic diversity of Miami University.
Chuck Knepfle, director of financial assistance at Miami, said the program, designed to award scholarships to students whose combined family adjusted gross income is less than $35,000, has been successful.
"We were hoping for a 25 percent increase in students enrolled in this category and we have exceeded that," Knepfle said. "It looks to be a little over 200 students (receiving Access Initiative funds), but we won't have an official count until three weeks into the term."
According to the Office of Student Financial Assistance's Web site, the Miami Access Initiative guarantees scholarship and grant funds to eligible students, meeting or exceeding the cost of tuition and fees at Miami.
In addition to the Access Initiative funds, students can also receive outside scholarships and grants to further increase their financial aid package.
The program is restricted to in-state students.
Knepfle said the initiative began shortly after Miami received a gift of more then $10 million from the estate of alumna Lois Klawon. He added that the Office of Student Financial Assistance had known the donation was coming since February 2006.
"The stipulation in the will was that it went toward financially needy students in the form of scholarships," Knepfle said.
Current Miami students receiving Access Initiative funds are subject to one additional requirement to maintain their standing within the program-meetings with faculty mentors to assist in the transition from high school to college, Knepfle said.
He added that there are also grade point average expectations.
"We're asking them to keep a 2.5 GPA," he said.
In addition to the mentoring program, students benefiting from the Access Initiative are invited to participate in programs designed for all university students.
"There is no Access Initiative club per se, but we will have some programming activities, whether they are career development programs, programs through the Rinella Learning Center, time management programs, things that all students can benefit from," said Carla Carick, director of special programs in the Office of Transition and Assessment. "These programs are available to all students, and I'll be encouraging our access scholars to explore some of them."
Students benefiting from Access Initiative funds also had the chance to attend the pre-First Year Institute earlier this month along with international students.
Some students within the Miami community have responded favorably to the Access Initiative and its effects.
Jessica Kahanek, a senior political science student, is supportive of the program.
"It's a good idea-it allows students who wouldn't have had the chance to come to Miami to view it as an option," she said. "It creates diversity, which this university lacks."
However, as an out-of-state student, Kahanek said Miami might benefit from expanding the Access Initiative to a nationwide program.
"I don't like that it's only for Ohio residents," she said. "I think you can do a lot more diversity-wise if you were to expand it. Ohio is definitely a priority, but you can increase diversity in more ways if you increase financial aid to out-of-state students through geographically based aid programs."
