Our students know that the rising cost of higher education is no barrier to earning a college degree.

That’s because we have awarded more than $19.5 million in grants, loans, scholarships and other financial assistance to about 6,900 students — or 78 percent of the student body — for fall semester, and officials say they expect at least that much assistance to be provided again next semester.

About half of all TTU students, in fact, received scholarships, with more than $8.8 million distributed this semester. That figure includes athletic, academic and departmental scholarships, many of which are funded through private donations, and the Tennessee lottery Hope scholarships.

The university distributed about $2.2 million in academic and departmental scholarships to 1,046 recipients, and 2,420 students earned $3.1 million in Hope scholarships. Approximately 40 percent of our students received grants and loans totaling more than $10.2 million.

University officials have made the process of applying and qualifying for scholarships much easier in recent years by consolidating resources on our ScholarWeb web site, which includes a link to the lottery scholarship web site that offers information about the free application for federal student aid required for federal grants and loans and lottery scholarships.

“In order to help students obtain scholarships from TTU, we’ve centralized our criteria and application process," says Kathy McGill, scholarship coordinator. "Instead of completing separate university and departmental applications, a student need now complete only the university scholarship application, which is available on our web site.”

The estimated cost of attending TTU for an academic year — including food, lodging, transportation, books and maintenance fees — is $13,800, and eligible students can earn multiple scholarships and other forms of assistance that add up to that total.

The annual deadline for all scholarship applications at TTU is Dec. 15, and the last date for all other supporting materials to be received in the university’s scholarship office is Jan. 15.

For more detailed information about the scholarship application process, deadlines, departmental checklists, eligibility criteria and answers to frequently asked questions, visit ScholarWeb at www.tntech.edu/scholarships or call or e-mail McGill at 6159 or scholarships@tntech.edu.