Sen. Carper Holds College Affordability Meeting at DSU

U.S. Sen. Thomas R. Carper took time out of his busy schedule to hold a College Affordability Roundtable at Delaware State University on Feb. 19.

The event gave Delaware’s senior U.S. senator an opportunity to hear first-hand from students and administrators about the challenges of college affordability and the issues around accessing financial aid to assist in shouldering that cost.

Sen. Carper met with five DSU students: Adam Bruns, an agriculture major from Milford; Madison Christensen, a mass communications major from Dover; Keda Dorina, a political science major from Georgetown; Melayna Hall, a textiles and apparel studies major from Smyrna; and Diekolola Ibisonke, a political science major from Smyrna.

Also joining in the discussion were DSU President Harry L. Williams along with Dr. Teresa Hardee, senior vice president and chief operating officer; Stephen Ampersand, assistant vice president of Student Financial Services; and Dr. Bradley Skelcher, associate provost.

All of the participating students are Inspire Scholarship Scholars. Each one shared their personal story of how the Inspire Scholarship has helped them as well as their individual experiences in seeking financial aid. The students noted the importance of applying for as many scholarships as possible and meeting application deadlines.

Dr. Williams noted the emphasis put on students finishing their degree within four years, and said that students would be helped with that goal by a restoration of the summer Pell Grant, which has been eliminated.