JOHNSON CITY (October 14, 2011) – More scholarship opportunities than ever before will be available to students attending East Tennessee State University beginning in the 2012 fall semester, school officials have announced.

Dr. Bert Bach, ETSU provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, says the new initiatives provide scholarships for eligible current and incoming students, including new freshmen and transfer students, out-of-state students, and graduate students.

“We are fortunate to have such a high caliber of students who, each year, choose ETSU as the pathway to their careers,” Bach said. “These new scholarships and the many others we already offer allow us to reward these outstanding students for their academic achievements and support them by helping ease the financial costs of higher education.”

Beginning next fall, the award amount of the Academic Performance Scholarship (APS) will be increased for freshmen from Tennessee and approved border counties who present high ACT or SAT scores and grade point averages. The APS provides funds that can be applied toward tuition and other fees. Current APS students receive $3,000 for the academic year, and next fall, the award amount for new recipients will be $5,000 for those with a minimum GPA of 3.9 and ACT/SAT scores of 30 and 1320, respectively. Those with a minimum GPA of 3.5 and minimum ACT scores of 27 and SAT scores of 1210 will receive $4,000, and students with 26 and 1170 scores along with a minimum 3.5 GPA will be awarded $3,000. A $2,000 APS award is available to those with a 3.5 GPA and ACT/SAT scores of 25 and 1130.

Applicants are not required to take both the ACT and SAT exams in order to be accepted to ETSU or receive the APS scholarship. Students are considered for the APS upon applying to ETSU and are automatically awarded the scholarship if they meet the criteria. However, students must apply for admission by Dec. 15 to be considered for the scholarship.

Incoming freshmen, transfer students and graduate students will be eligible for ETSU’s new Regional Scholarship program. These awards are only available to new students who are not receiving any university scholarship or out-of-state tuition assistance other than federal aid programs like Pell Grant.

The Regional Scholarship will be considered for students who reside in the counties of Bell, Floyd, Harlan, Knott, Leslie, Letcher, Perry and Pike in Kentucky; Alexander, Alleghany, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania and Wilkes in North Carolina; Bland, Buchanan, Dickenson, Grayson, Russell, Smyth, Tazewell, Wise and Wythe in Virginia; and McDowell in West Virginia.

Eligibility criteria for the Regional Scholarship program will vary depending on degree level, and interested persons should consult the Web site www.etsu.edu/scholarships for more information.

In addition, ETSU has developed new scholarships that are available for graduate students who are in the final semester of writing a thesis or dissertation.

“The thesis or dissertation is the culminating experience for many of our master’s and doctoral programs, and often it takes more than one semester for the research and final writing to be completed,” Bach explained. “This scholarship will provide financial assistance for one semester while this important academic endeavor is completed.”

Need-based scholarships are also being increased and will be awarded to exceptional, currently enrolled undergraduate students at ETSU who do not have any other type of scholarship assistance and are experiencing financial difficulties.

For more information on these and other scholarship opportunities, visit www.etsu.edu/scholarships or call (423) 439-7094.