With attention on Bunker Hill, Ind., because of a hit national television show, Ball State University took its typical place — in front of the cameras.
After receiving a newly remodeled home from ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" earlier in the week, the Cowan-Brown family also got another gift Wednesday as Ball State presented the four children with full-ride scholarships to the university.
Ball State and most other universities have this habit to be philanthropic, especially when they know they will receive attention for it.
Yes, it is great Ball State gave scholarships to the family's four children, who have probably had to overcome more in their lives than the typical Ball State student. But let's also not kid ourselves, a big reason they are receiving these full-ride scholarships is because they will be on a national television show.
Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president of University Marketing and Communications at Ball State, said the university was attracted to these potential students because of their family's story of financial difficulties and having a child, Kori, battling a congenital blood disease.
"This is a particularly rare kind of story," he said. "The university is very interested in attracting bright, talented students, and this is kind of an extraordinary award and it was given because it was a rare extraordinary story."
Without a doubt, the university made the right move by giving the children scholarships based on their exceptional story. However, the new question that emerges is whether Ball State will continue to be this generous with scholarships for students, or potential students, from Muncie when the cameras are turned off.
Ball State has recently given additional financial support to outstanding Muncie high schoolers. Earlier this month, the university announced it would give $1,000 for textbooks to any 21st Century Scholar from Muncie Central or Southside High Schools who goes to Ball State.
This is the right step to reward students who are achieving great things at the high school level, but where are those types of awards for students already enrolled at Ball State?
Every day there are students at Ball State doing remarkable things such as winning national and state awards. Not all of these students are receiving scholarships. These students are doing extraordinary things and still paying an extraordinary amount to attend Ball State, especially out-of-state students who are paying almost $9,000 in tuition per semester.
There are many scholarships — both within departments and campuswide — for students to receive while enrolled at Ball State. With tuition increasing significantly every year, these scholarship opportunities for current students do not seem to be growing proportionately to the amount tuition continues to increase.
The scholarships the Cowan-Brown family received showed there is more scholarship money available to students. Now, with the cameras off, it would be nice for the university to help the people already in Muncie.
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