Texan Mosaic

By Tess Thurston

Austin Leposa’s dream is to become a nurse.  She’s enrolled in the South Plains College nursing program.  An SPC scholarship is helping her pay for it.

Leposa is not alone.  Paying for higher education is a universal experience for many college students.  Scholarships are often a way to help.

Shalyn Slape, the scholarship coordinator at SPC, says SPC has 300 to 400 scholarships to offer, and the number of scholarships keeps rising each year.

Scholarships offered at SPC range from academic to athletic.  Some only apply to specific majors or programs.  That’s the kind of scholarship Leposa found best for her in the nursing program.

The deadline to apply for scholarships is March 1, 2024.  While that seems like a long way away, it’s really not when you consider the holidays are approaching and the application may take time to complete.

Overall, Slape says students must maintain 12 credits of classes per semester, maintain above a minimum 2.50 GPA, be enrolled in their intended major, and fill out the application form to apply for a scholarship.

Students can find a link to the SPC scholarship application by going to the bottom of the main page of the SPC website.  The tab marked “Scholarships” has much of the information a student needs to fill out the application.

The site explains one online application is used to apply for all scholarships that SPC administers.

With one application, a student is automatically matched to those general scholarship opportunities at SPC for which the student is qualified.

Slape says the online scholarship application portal opens Nov. 17.   Students should be prepared to offer letters of recommendations and transcripts.

The scholarship opportunities listed on the SPC website include several different categories such as program scholarships, activity scholarships, and ones for non-traditional students. Slape says program scholarships apply to specific departments or programs such as nursing.  A student needs to check with their specific program to make sure they have what they need to apply. 

Slape says the same is true for activity scholarships.  There are a lot of these listed such as choir, band, and cheerleading.  Students need to check with the specific activity organizers to see if an audition is required.

There are also athletic scholarships available for student- athletes.  Slape says students should look for the scholarship information about those with recruitment forms under the athletic tab on the SPC website.

Slape says there are also state and local scholarships available that are administered by outside organizations where students can apply for scholarship money.

Austin Leposa suggests students start by looking at SPC’s website.

 “I have found finding information about the scholarships is easiest to find through the SPC website,” she says, “however for more information my advisor recommended I go to the scholarship office to get additional information or answers to questions I have.

Shalyn Slape’s office is located in the east wing of the administration building on the Levelland campus.  She can also be contacted through her email:  sslape@southplainscollege.edu   Her Office phone number is: (806) 716- 2219.

Slape says SPC has up to $1 million to offer students in scholarships.  In fact, she says more than a million was distributed each year over the last two years.  But, she says her office receives more than 1,000 applications each year.

So what are you waiting for?

The application online portal opens Nov. 17.  The scholarship application deadline is March 1.