By Gabriel Wiest —

U of L announced it will expand regional scholarships to bridge gaps in out-of-state costs. Student can be eligible for $10,000 to cover the different between in- and out-of-state tuition.

College costs can deter students from attending, especially when a school has higher tuition and fees for out-of-state students.

The University of Louisville’s out-of-state tuition is $27,082. Tuition for in-state students is $11,460.

To bring down costs for out-of-state students, the university has expanded the regional scholarship program to include two new cities: Evansville and Indianapolis.

These are added to five other regions that were already a part of the program: Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Nashville and Washington D.C.

The scholarships are geared towards first-year freshmen as well as transfer students. They are awarded based on standardized tests and GPAs. Students who meet the requirements will automatically be awarded $10,000.

Vice Provost Jim Begany explained the timeline to roll out this program. “We put together this plan, it has been about two years.”

He described how he has been working with a team to help with details and arrangements.

Begany said declining high school populations prompted U of L to look at other regions to attract students to the university. He said the university is strengthening its brand so students can feel more confident pursuing a degree at UofL.

Begany said out-of-state enrollment is about 20 percent. In Fall 2018, U of L welcomed the largest number of out-of-state students to the university.

Begany said the regional scholarship program will help with diversity too. “This will help with geographic diversity, we are still looking at the numbers in terms of the [ethnic] diversity count. We have had our highest Hispanic population coming in, and a strong application pool for African American students coming in. These awards were not targeted for reaching diversity goals, we have lots of other ways to do this.”

If successful, the expansion will spread to new regions, Begany said.