"The Opening Doors Scholarship means more to me than just money. I felt completely excited and overwhelmed with joy because it’s given me the opportunity to attend college. I think that it’s important for alumni and donors to support The Opening Doors Scholarship because it’s giving kids my age the opportunity to go to an amazing school and get an amazing education.”
– Naveah Wall ‘26, Opening Doors Scholar
Cost continues to remain a barrier for many prospective students seeking to study at Scranton. The University often competes for students against institutions whose larger endowments give them an unbeatable advantage in financial aid. To ensure that the University continues to kindle the fires of the best and brightest students regardless of their financial means, it is critical that the University increase its endowment.
To help break the cost barrier, the University recently launched The Opening Doors Scholarship Fund to provide last-dollar funding to students from the Cristo Rey network of Jesuit high schools, Arrupe College and other institutes with missions that support students with limited economic resources.
Although cost is the main barrier for some prospective students, Scranton’s growing population of first-generation college students often encounter additional cultural and social barriers that can impact their retention. As a result, the University launched the THR1VE program in 2019 to provide peer mentors, faculty/staff mentors and advocates, and leadership opportunities to its first-generation college students.
"THR1VE brings a sense of belonging and community. It helps students realize that they are not alone and gives them role models as they navigate the many unique challenges a first-gen student may experience."
– Ashley Walker ’21, G’22, THR1VE Alumna
In 2022, the University celebrated the launch of the campus-wide plan for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, drawing its strategies and policies from the Catholic Social Teachings that call us to recognize the dignity of every human person. Through these initiatives and others like them, Scranton will continue its efforts to enroll and retain talented members of underrepresented groups.
"We strive always to live out our founding mission to make the dream of higher education possible regardless of means."– Rev. Joseph G. Marina, S.J., President of The University of Scranton
How Can you Help?
Scan this code to support access-specific causes at The University of Scranton.
DID YOU KNOW?
99 percent of first-year student aid applicants enrolled for the fall 2023 semester were offered funding from University scholarships and need-based grants. The average financial aid package, not including parent and private loans, was $41,000.
First-year students received more than $40 million in financial aid scholarships for the 2023-2024 academic year, $37 million of which was provided by the University.
In February, the University held a grand opening and blessing ceremony for the expanded and renovated Multicultural Center.
Father Marina is a first-generation college student.
The University conferred bachelor’s degrees to 160 students who identify as first-generation college students at its undergraduate commencement ceremony in May.
First-generation students make up 22 percent of the undergraduate student body at Scranton.
Scranton was elected to join the national 2022-23 First-generation Forward cohort, an initiative of the National Organization of Student Affairs and The Suder Foundation.
4 percent of the University's annual operating budget comes from its endowment. Increasing the endowment will allow the University to become less dependent on tuition.
Select initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion are in motion, including course offerings that cover topics related to diversity and race, the Anti-Racism Examen undertaken by the Board of Trustees through the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, the hiring of new faculty who represent the growing diversity of our student body, and campus events and dialogues that explore diversity and inclusion.
