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$30,000 Opportunity

Ohio Wesleyan Expands, Simplifies 2018-2019 Merit Scholarship Program

DELAWARE, Ohio – High school seniors who meet two criteria will earn automatic $30,000 renewable scholarships to attend Ohio Wesleyan University next fall. 

“We’re making it easier for prospective students and their families to navigate the college search process,” said Kevin Paskvan, Ohio Wesleyan’s director of financial aid. 

“When prospective students meet just two criteria – a minimum 3.4 GPA and an 1150 SAT or 23 ACT score – they will receive $30,000 Branch Rickey Scholarships when they enroll at Ohio Wesleyan,” Paskvan said. “And if they remain in good academic standing, their Rickey Scholarships will be renewable for up to four years.” 

Prospective students with FAFSA-verified financial need also will be eligible for need-based aid, he said. 

About 97 percent of Ohio Wesleyan students receive some form of merit-based and/or need-based financial aid, Paskvan said. For 2016-2017, first-year students earned $14 million in university grants and scholarships. On average, the incoming students received more than $40,000 apiece in combined merit-based and need-based aid, he said. 

Ohio Wesleyan’s Rickey Scholarship is named in honor of 1904 OWU graduate Branch Rickey, who believed that those who possessed skill deserved opportunity. As manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Rickey broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier when he signed Jackie Robinson. For Rickey’s vision and action, he was named ESPN’s “Most Influential Person in Sports of the 20th Century” in 1999. 

Susan Dileno, Ohio Wesleyan’s vice president for enrollment, said the university is pleased to honor Rickey’s legacy and to simplify the admission process for prospective students and families. 

“Rickey once wrote that ‘Ohio Wesleyan has been very largely responsible for whatever good is in me, and is to be credited with whatever good I may have done,’ ” Dileno said. “We find this inspiring. 

“For students who have worked hard in high school and who want to study at a top liberal arts university,” Dileno said, “we want to make an Ohio Wesleyan education possible. We want to help them connect skill with opportunity.” 

Learn more about applying to Ohio Wesleyan at www.owu.edu/admission and more about financial aid opportunities at www.owu.edu/financialaid. 

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Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 90 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through Ohio Wesleyan’s signature OWU Connection program, students integrate knowledge across disciplines, build a diverse and global perspective, and apply their knowledge in real-world settings. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives” and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.