Despite a highly publicized number of athletic scholarship awards, there still are slightly more academic scholarships offered at NIU.

“This idea exists out there, but not at NIU,” scholarship coordinator Dana Gautchersaid. “The majority of our scholarships are academically based.”

NIU has just under 400 academic scholarships, Gautcher said. They are given for minority status, financial need and academic merit. Of those 400, many are given to multiple students.

“We are really looking at 1,500 awards,” she said.

More still could be awarded for athletics without going over set limits, said athletics compliance coordinator Bobbie Cesarek.

“NIU’s scholarship allotment is not at NCAA’s maximum,” Cesarek said. “NCAA’s allowable is 257.4 scholarships for sports sponsored at NIU. We are 100 less than academic scholarships.”

Cesarek said students sometimes wrongly perceive that athletes are awarded more money because sports are more popular.

“The nature of it looks like athletics have thousands of scholarships,” Cesarek said. “Academic scholarships are not as well-publicized as athletic scholarships are.”

The amount of money a scholarship is worth is determined in two ways, Gautcher said.

“There are endowed and expendable scholarships,” she said. “Let’s say that Betty Jones wants to give $10,000 in endowed scholarships to go to a certain type of student. NIU will invest $10,000, and 4 percent of that ($400) will be used each year for that scholarship.”

Expendable scholarships work a little differently.

“Let’s say that Betty Jones has $10,000 and wants it to be awarded however NIU wants, based on certain criteria and depending on how many students fulfill the requirements,” Gautcher said. “The scholarship will be divided among the students. It really depends on how the scholarship is created.”

Scholarships are given to NIU by many different sources, she added.

“Depending on the type of assistance that the students need, the individual donors have an idea of what they want to donate,” Gautcher said. “The development office on campus works with the donors.”

Students who want to find out more about scholarships can call the Financial Aid Office at 753-1395 or Gautcher at 753-0143.