KEOKUK, Iowa – Keokuk High School seniors and juniors have received 6,246 (updated) scholarship offers from nearly 60 institutions for a total of more than $282 million (updated) through a new partnership with VU Scholarships. Students received personalized scholarship information from VU at an all-school assembly on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024.
“The partnership with VU Scholarships is invaluable to Keokuk High School students, as it opens doors to higher education by reducing financial barriers, and empowering students to pursue their academic and career aspirations with greater confidence and access to resources,” Nathan Harrison, KHS principal, said. “This partnership not only helps students achieve their immediate goals but also sets them on a path toward building successful, fulfilling futures.”
Kelly Takorbisong, KHS senior and member of band, FFA and more, lead the group in scholarship offers with more than 60 other students also offered over $2 million in scholarships.
VU is a scholarship program that prior to students applying to college, it automatically matches students with corresponding scholarship offers from colleges and universities based on their GPA and if available their ACT scores. Out of about 300 juniors and seniors at KHS, 230 students received scholarship offers that averaged more than $1.3 million in total from the 60 participating schools.
At the assembly, students scanned a QR code and downloaded the app and instantly saw the total dollar amount of scholarship offers and then the list offered by college. Next, students can go through the list with their families to decide which college/university to apply to for admission. The individual scholarship offer amounts per school varies and students will only receive the scholarship offer that they accept at an individual school.
KayLyn, junior, and RayLyn Mortimer, senior, discussed their excitement with their proud father, Robert Mortimer Jr., after finding out that between the two sisters they had received more than 50 total scholarship offers. KHS will be hosting a parent night for the recipients to go over additional information and aid in the process.
There were an average of 26 scholarship offers per KHS junior and senior with an average amount from each school of about $44,819, but this will vary per school and per student. Scholarship amounts could be anywhere from $1,000 to $160,000 per college or university.
There are about 60 schools currently partnering with VU to offer scholarships to the high school partners, but more are added throughout the year and students will potentially automatically receive additional offers from newly added schools. Nearby participating colleges and universities include Coe College, Culver-Stockton College, Drake University, Iowa State University, Missouri S&T, St. Ambrose University, Truman State University, University of Illinois, University of Northern Illinois, Western Illinois University, University of Arkansas, University of New Mexico and more. Additionally there are some big name schools further away that are participating, such as Kansas State University, University of Alabama, Texas Tech University, to name a few.
As students start to narrow down their choices, KHS administration is communicating with students that it is important to compare the amount offered via scholarship for each institution to the tuition cost of that institution, as the out of pocket expense could be less with a lower scholarship offer. For example:
•- College A offers $5,000/semester and tuition is $7,000/semester=$2,000/out of pocket tuition expense
•- College B offers $10,000/semester and tuition is $20,000/semester=$10,000/out of pocket tuition expense
Which makes College A a better deal financially, however additional criteria will matter to students and their families such as location, program offerings, and more. KHS administration is available to answer questions from students and their families and additional details are available on the VU app that students downloaded at the assembly on Dec. 13. Parents were given the opportunity to opt-out for their student at a previous date.
The difference is now students will receive scholarship offers prior to applying to college, then decide which offer from which school they would like to accept, and apply to that college for admission and receive the scholarship while retaining the ability to apply for additional scholarships.
For more information on VU for parents, go to keokukschools.org/schools/keokuk-high-school/vu-scholarships/.
