The new Student Success Scholarship Program offers extra money for Lakeland students by encouraging them to accomplish engagements on campus. 

Lakeland University created a partnership with RaiseMe, which offers scholarship platforms and began a micro-scholarship program for students. Samuel Poullette, vice president for enrollment management of Lakeland, stated that this scholarship is aimed to encourage students to be successful in their academic experience. 

 “We look at what the students do to be successful, and how we could add a dollar-value to those activities that would perhaps encourage or motivate more students to do those activities or behaviors. And in doing so, hopefully, we’ll see that if more students take advantage of the academic tutors, or meet with their professors or the faculty, if they get $20 or however much for doing so, they’ll build better relationships on campus.” Poullette mentioned. 

Students can apply to this program from emails that are sent by RaiseMe. For the first step, applicants will be required to create an account with RaiseMe and will be rewarded $25. Once they log in to their account, there is a list of activities such as following a Lakeland social media account and attending a convocation event. Since campus events are canceled due to the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), applicants are allowed to use their past activities before spring break and retroactively earn the money from it. The money earned from it will be deducted from tuition for the next semester. 

By completing those tasks, applicants can earn up to $750, but $250 is required before you can redeem it. Poullette explained the reason for setting the minimum amount of money. “We also want to get good data from it as well. It’s really hard to determine whether or not $20 helps or doesn’t help a student’s success, so we set a minimum and a maximum for dollar amounts that students can earn for micro-scholarships. So, the minimum is $250.” 

This scholarship program not only provides an opportunity to earn money, but also encourages students to join more college events or meet people, and creates a more active community in Lakeland as the consequence.  

“We’re going to have more students that are more active. We’re going to build a better community and a more engaged community, and that’s going to improve the experience for everybody…. If you see more students involved, you’re going to feel like it’s a better campus because it’s an infectious energy and excitement. The other side of the coin is, if you have a campus that’s full of people that don’t do anything, it’s not a great campus, and it’s not fun for anybody. So, we think that this will help with building more engagement, and a better community,” Poullette stated. 

To apply for this scholarship program, check your email from RaiseMe. For more information, reach out to Samuel Poullette ([email protected]).