More Hope for Hollins
Since its founding, Hollins has helped young women discover, nurture, and use their voices as leaders in their community, our nation, and around the globe.
Hollins established its original HOPE Scholars program in 2021 to cover the full cost of tuition for qualified students who live within a 40-mile radius of Roanoke, Virginia. “We did not want a lack of access to financial resources to prevent academically talented students from maximizing their future success,” said Hollins President Mary Dana Hinton.
Since that time, Hinton explained, “HOPE students have thrived at Hollins. The program’s tremendous success encouraged us to think more broadly, expand nationally, and enhance the scholarship benefits beyond just tuition, allowing our students to benefit from a remarkable residential experience as well.”
The program has been an outstanding success in regard to enrollment and retention, and the 62 HOPE Scholars who return to campus this fall “have immeasurably brightened our campus community,” Hinton noted. An additional 30 first-year HOPE Scholars will join them this fall, bringing the total number to 92.
The recently launched Transforming Learning, Transforming Lives: The Levavi Oculos Strategic Plan (featured in the Winter 2024 issue) embraced a big vision for Hollins and for HOPE. And now, as part of that strategic plan, Hollins has expanded HOPE nationwide to give more incredibly talented young women hope for an education, hope for their families, hope for their future.
Beginning in August, first-time, first-year domestic undergraduate students who apply to attend Hollins and are eligible for the Pell Grant (generally those whose family household income is at or below $65,000) will automatically receive consideration for a HOPE scholarship. New incoming HOPE Scholars, who will begin at Hollins in fall 2025, will have the direct cost of on-campus food and housing (traditionally noted as “room and board”) and fees covered in addition to tuition.
“We believe in the power of the Hollins academic and residential experience and want to ensure that students can access this experience regardless of income level. At Hollins, students learn inside and outside of the classroom, and the generous and comprehensive HOPE Scholars program makes a holistic experience possible,” Hinton said.
Emphasizing that “affordability has been and will remain a priority for Hollins,” Vice President for Enrollment Management Ashley Browning noted that “our many other generous scholarships remain in place for those who do not qualify for HOPE. Accepted students will continue to receive a minimum of $24,000 in scholarships, and accepted Virginia residents receive at least $29,000 through a combination of Hollins scholarships and the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant (VTAG). In fact, the average Hollins undergraduate student today receives over $34,000 in scholarships and grants, which is well over half the cost of attendance.”
“To the future leaders, the budding scientists, the talented artists, and the change makers: We see you, and we know you’re the future,” Hinton said. “Our HOPE Scholars program will allow you to pursue your passions and achieve a college education with no debt and no loans.” She added that HOPE is made possible through funding from Hollins as well as applicable federal and state grants.
Hinton believes that taking the HOPE program nationwide “will elevate what Hollins can be when we lift our eyes with love in our hearts. HOPE will meaningfully alter the course of Hollins’ future as we strive to become the nation’s leading liberal arts college for women and a leader in higher education for social, economic, and civic mobility.”
Fundraising to meet the needs of the program’s initial two years is already well underway and ongoing, with a plan to fund the program in perpetuity through additional gifts to the endowment.
Hinton added, “Our ability to offer HOPE Scholarships is only possible because of the incredible generosity of our Hollins alumnae/i and friends. Our trustees have given us their full confidence, and as more people learn more about it, we invite them to show their enthusiastic support for and investment in this amazing program because of the impact it will have on future generations of students.”
Find out more at hollins.edu/hope.
If you would like to offer your financial support for HOPE, please contact Vice President for Institutional Advancement Anita Walton at waltonab@hollins.edu or at (540) 362-6413.