University of Virginia Library

Honor Awards In Distress

Probably the greatest distinction an
entering student at the University can claim
is to be the recipient of an Honor Award,
a grant of $1,000 or $1,500 awarded each
year for four years to a select group of
prospective first-year men whose academic
achievements and personal characters are
of the highest caliber.

These merit awards, begun as the result
of generous contributions from several
alumni in 1963, have been instrumental, as
we shall later see, in attracting to the University
some of its finest students over the
past four years.

Yet the Honor Award program is in serious
trouble.

In 1964, awards were made to 15 prospective
first-year men; in 1965, to 14.

But for the entering class of 1966, funds
were available for only five awards. This
year six Honor Awards were given.

Part of the difficulty in raising the money
necessary for a successful program is that
the Honor Awards are still relatively unknown
to students and alumni.

According to Mr. Toms, director of the
Office of Financial Aid, prospective candidates
for the Awards are recommended each
year to the Honor Award Committee by
secondary school principals and University
alumni.

The committee reviews these recommendations
and the candidates' qualifications submitted
with their applications for admissions.
A selected group of potential recipients is
then invited to Charlottesville one weekend
in the spring to tour the University and talk
with students already holding Honor
Awards. The most important part of the
visit is the informal interview each candidate
must have with the committee.

The Award carries with it an annual
stipend of $1,000 for Virginians and $1,500
for out-of-state students. According to Mr.
Toms, the scholarships are awarded over a
broad geographical front and without regard
to need. The Award is renewable each undergraduate
year if the recipient maintains
a Dean's List average and participates actively
in other phases of University life.

In four years of existence the Honor
Awards have already drawn to the University
35 outstanding young men, including
numerous Echols Scholars, members of the
staffs of the three major undergraduate
publications, varsity lettermen, honorary
society members, numerous dormitory counselors,
the first second-year man elected
to the Student Council, and two chairmen
of the Honor Committee.

With such a splendid record of achievement,
the need for continuing and expanding
the program is obvious.

To so, says Mr. Toms, the program needs
money.

The monies for the support of the Honor
Awards come from the accruing interest of
four specific trust funds, as well as from
portions of other depreciating general funds
which President Shannon has allotted each
year.

Despite the efforts of the directors of
the Alumni Fund and other University
officials, the University has yet to be able
to establish these Awards on a permanent
trust fund basis.

For the 1967-68 term, there are 30 Honor
Award Scholars, ten of whom are Virginians.
It requires $40,000 to finance this
year's program, based on a 5 per cent
yield from the funds.

Supporters of the Honor Awards feel the
program should be expanded at this point
to provide for 20 Virginians and 20 non Virginians,
which would require $50,000
per annum, an investment of $1,000,000.

If there's any doubt as to the important
role the Awards have played, consider the
following statements from past or current
recipients, to be printed in the next issue
of the University's Alumni Magazine:

(From a former president of the College)
"There is no doubt in my mind that
if I had not received the Honor Award, I
would not have attended the University.
....From my own point of view, the scholarship
has been a tremendous incentive to
strive for personal betterment in all facets
of University life."

(From another president of the College)
"The money from the Honor Award has
been a welcome addition to my own funds
and has allowed me to participate in some
activities in which I would not otherwise
have been able."

(From a member of the Student Council)
"It is unfortunate that all too often
money is the deciding factor in a man's
choice of schooling, but in my case the
the availability of the Honor Award gave
me a compelling reason to attend a school
which previously I had not seriously considered."

While the Honor Awards are not intended
to develop into a large-scale program like
Chapel Hill's Morehead Scholarship that
represents an investment of millions, the
program is in financial difficulty and deserves
higher priority than some University
fund raisers have given it in the past.

We hope the University's alumni respond
to the Honor Awards' plight with the
generosity they have shown to so many
University needs in the past.