In fall 2024, the Sullivan Scholarship program was paused for reevaluation, with no new scholars selected for the 2024-25 academic year. Now, the program has returned, but with a far narrower scope: the scholarship is now awarded to just two students per year compared to the previous nine, and both must have attended Catholic or Jesuit high schools.
Since 1988, Seattle University has offered the prestigious scholarship covering tuition, housing and fees in full to a carefully selected group of roughly nine students per year. Named for former university president Fr. Bill Sullivan, the Sullivan Scholarship aims to support students who demonstrate academic excellence, leadership and community service.
The 2024 reevaluation of the program stemmed from a desire to increase accessibility by redirecting funds originally designated for the merit-based Sullivan Scholarship to the need-based Costco Scholarship and Seattle University Bound programs. According to James Miller, associate vice president and dean of admissions, two Sullivan Scholarships each year have been paid for by endowed funds set aside specifically for the scholarship, while the other seven have been paid for using the general financial aid pool. With an average annual cost of attendance of over $70,000, the redistribution of these seven full-ride scholarships allowed an additional 100-120 students to attend Seattle U, Miller wrote in an email to The Spectator.
This decision was not without criticism. The newly limited number of attendees has forced the program to adjust its cohort-based model–an aspect that 2004 Sullivan Scholar Kerani Mitchell remembers fondly from her time at Seattle U.
“I felt like I had people who had my back, who also have become lifelong friends. That’s something I’ve carried with me to this day,” Mitchell said. “If there’s only two students, the level of kinship is going to be different. Hopefully, they have a great relationship with each other and can be there for one another, but I think it really limits the scope of community, which at the time when I applied, was a pillar.”
In a joint email to The Spectator, Miller and Jordan Grant, associate vice president for student financial services, acknowledged this change, pointing to other opportunities to find community around campus.
“The cohort experience has been vital to so many Sullivans over the years. There will still be opportunities for community building for the ongoing Sullivan Scholars,” Grant and Miller wrote. “I know that the current Sullivan community will readily embrace our new enrolling Sullivans, and that by extension our Sullivan alumni will do the same! Our Sullivans often enroll in Honors, which operates on a cohort model. There are also numerous community-building opportunities across campus for students to take advantage of.”
In addition to the overall size of the scholarship shrinking, it is also now offered to a more limited demographic of students. Attendance at a Jesuit or Catholic high school is now a requirement to apply. According to Grant and Miller, this decision was made because of Seattle U’s status as a Jesuit and Catholic institution, and the change was in line with foundational components of the university’s heritage.
“It’s important to recognize that Jesuit-Catholic and other Catholic secondary schools, as a national body, serve the full diversity of students in terms of identity and socioeconomic status,” Grant and Miller wrote.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, roughly 62% of K-12 students enrolled in Catholic schools in 2021 were white, compared to 45% of public school students. The average national tuition for private high schools can be as high as $17,000 per year before financial aid, according to the Education Data Initiative.
This change stood out to 2006 Sullivan Scholar George Bayuga, one of the few Sullivan Scholars in his cohort to have attended a Catholic high school.
“Some of the most exciting conversations that I’ve had with other Sullivan scholars are from folks who did not come from Catholic education,” Baygua said. “I was bummed out because I understand that they’re narrowing the focus so it falls more in line with our Catholic identity, but at the same time, private education is now more limited in terms of its access than it ever has been before because of changing socioeconomic conditions. It seems like it unintentionally is excluding a lot of people from the possible pool.”
Bayuga said he was influenced to attend Seattle U after attending a Sullivan Scholarship finalist dinner and realizing he loved the campus and culture. Before he found out he had been awarded the scholarship, he had already decided to commit to the university. He worries that a narrower pool may dissuade future Sullivan applicants from attending if not awarded the scholarship.
“[A friend of mine] works in college admissions and guidance. She had students apply for the Sullivan every year because she knew me. Then she got the email that the Sullivan was narrowing, and she was like, ‘George, what’s going on? I had a bunch of students who were excited about going to Seattle U because of this possibility, and then they don’t apply,’” Bayuga said. “I know so many folks who came to Seattle U because they came to Sullivan Day and just fell in love with the school.”
With undergraduate enrollment at Seattle U and across the country already in decline, it is unclear if the changes to the Sullivan Scholarship will further impact overall enrollment. However, Grant and Miller wrote that the financial restructuring allowed more than 100 additional students to attend the university.
“I can assure you that combined, the Sullivans along with the Costco and SU Bound communities, fully support a broad socioeconomic, cultural and identity diversity that surpasses the prior reach of Sullivan enrollment on its own,” Grant and Miller wrote.
