On Feb. 17, Chancellor Randy Woodson announced the launch of the Extraordinary Opportunity Scholarship Initiative. Krista Ringler, associate vice provost and director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, said this initiative was created as a part of the last two years of The Campaign for NC State in hopes of bringing focus specifically to student scholarships.

“The focus is to provide scholarship support to undergraduate students to help cover the cost of attendance,” Ringler said. “It’s an opportunity for us to try to bring some focus to this and raise some funds in order to create scholarship opportunities for students who are under-resourced.”

Ringler said 72% of undergraduate students at NC State complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), with more than 50% qualifying for need-based aid. 

“We’ve been able to see that resources from the federal government for financial aid and resources from the state for financial aid are not growing at the rate that our students need them to grow,” Ringler said. “We’re also in a time where we are trying to increase enrollment access from populations that we know are going to have increased need … Other resources aren’t closing the gap, and NC State has realized that the only way to really tackle this issue is for us to tackle it as an institution.”

Ringler said support for this initiative has been provided by the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, University Development, the Chancellor’s Office, the Provost Office and deans of various colleges.

“Funds for this will primarily come from donations to the university, and that could be from anyone,” Ringler said. “It could be from current students, from parents, from faculty and staff, from alumni, from companies that want to support NC State. Anyone who wants to support NC State students can give to this initiative and the funds will be used to provide need-based scholarship support to undergraduate students.” 

Alan Taylor, assistant vice chancellor for principal gifts, said the opportunity to donate to this initiative will be a focus of the NC State Day of Giving this year on March 25.

“NC State has always been a university that has been affordable and accessible to North Carolinians,” Taylor said. “The goal for this is to ensure that NC State remains affordable and accessible to all students in really all 100 counties, specifically the rural areas of North Carolina.”

Ringler said anyone interested in donating or learning more about the initiative can go to The Campaign for NC State website.

“We hear stories of students not coming here and going other places because their financial aid package was greater somewhere else, even though they may have been accepted to NC State, which is a hard thing,” Taylor said. “So when you hear those stories, it breaks your heart, and you want to do something about it … For me personally, I’m a first-generation college student. I got two degrees from NC State; I work here now. This is a place that is special to me, and I want to ensure that the next generation can walk the same bricks you and I walk on.”