The freshman class entering Kansas State in the fall of 2019 will see their opportunities for university financial aid look different than they have in the past.

The university will no longer offer the Putnam Scholarship. Previously, the scholarship provided students with $9,000 a year in financial aid in addition to the opportunity to renew it up to three times.

Students who received the scholarship scored 32 or higher on the ACT and had a high school GPA of 3.85 or higher.

In place of the scholarship, students who apply for the 2019-2020 academic year and meet the same requirements of the Putnam Scholarship will be eligible for the University Scholar Award. This scholarship offers $5,000 a year, renewable up to three times.

Students who receive this award can also apply for the Distinguished University Scholar Award, valued at $7,500 and renewable up to three times.

“We are redesigning our general scholarship program and criteria that will allow us to award more scholarships to more students and to respond to today’s ever-changing student body,” Pat Bosco, vice president of student life and dean of students, said. “We want to incorporate need-based awards as well as merit as we retool our general scholarship program.”

Larry Moeder, associate vice president of student life and executive director of admissions and student financial assistance, said the changes made to K-State’s scholarships are part of a process to help more students attend college.

“Everybody agrees that higher education is not getting cheaper — costs continue to go up,” Moeder said. “The benefit is that we’re going to make it possible for more students to be here, to take advantage of going to college. That’s our primary goal.”

In addition to the merit-based scholarships the university is revamping, Moeder said adding additional need-based financial aid is on the table as well.

“One of the other categories that we’re hoping to do is to create some additional need-based grant assistance for our students that have high financial need,” Moeder said. “There’s no clear direction that’s been set yet, but it’s definitely on the table to look at, which will help more students.”

Changes were also made to the out-of-state scholarships. Moeder said K-State added the Inspiration Award for non-Kansas residents, which is a $6,000 annual scholarship that is renewable for up to three additional years.

In addition, Moeder said the university added the Recognition Award, another scholarship that is renewable for up to three years that is exclusive for out-of-state students. The initial reward is $4,000 a year awarded to students who had at least a 3.1 GPA in high school and scored between a 20 and 22 on the ACT.

Bosco said the redesign of the scholarship program is part of a long-term program to help the university reach higher populations of out-of-state students.

“We have deployed regional-based admissions representatives that are in strategic areas,” Bosco said. “They live and work in those communities and have been assigned the responsibility of communicating the breadth and scope of our academic programs and the quality of our student life and scholarship opportunities to respective students in those specific out-of-state territories.”

None of the changes made will affect the scholarships students have already been awarded, Bosco said.

For more information about changing scholarships, check out the freshman scholarship award page at k-state.edu/admissions/finaid/scholarships.