Victoria McKenzie/ Winonan

It takes money to make money.

Students can be stuck in the “catch 22” of needing a job to pay for school but also needing a degree to get a job that pays well enough to support them during school.

Thankfully Winona State University’s Foundation Scholarship window opens up semi-annually allowing students to apply for scholarships, helping lift the financial burden.

Interim Foundation Coordinator Phillip Sonnenberg said, “It’s a very great opportunity for students to receive scholarships.”

There are 234 scholarships available through the WSU Foundation and additional ones added each year.

Sonnenberg said the foundation sends a university-wide email when the window opens and ask professors to encourage their students to apply for scholarships.

“If we don’t have applicants, we’ll go find applicants,” Sonnenberg said. “Most of the time we get applicants. But if we don’t, it gets carried over to the next year to be offered and awarded. We don’t have many scholarships that are not awarded.”

The application window opened Feb. 9 and closes March 23.

This year within the first week of the open window 1,300 students applied.  During the last window, a total of 4,400 applicants applied for the 234 scholarships.

Blaire Benike, a senior in marketing, said the qualifications for scholarships were discouraging.

“I was surprised by how many were actually not available to me,” Benike said.

She said did not fit the criteria for many scholarships; however, she applied for the few she did qualify for.

The university-wide email announcing the open window for applications holds a link to the site that opens to a page requiring a student ID.  Once entered, students are led to several pages that require basic information about their academic background to determine what scholarships they are eligible for.

Once the window closes, each scholarship committee reviews the applications and alerts the foundation who they chose to receive the scholarships, then the foundation alerts the recipients.  Students will be notified if they have received a scholarship in early May.

Sonnenberg said Winona State is very lucky to be able to provide so many scholarships for its students.

“We wouldn’t have this opportunity if it wasn’t for our benefactors,” Sonnenberg said. “We are very thankful our foundation exists to help students.”

Maisy Charbonneau, a junior in music performance, said she was very grateful for the scholarship she received.

Charbonneau said,“In fact, I wish I could have applied for more, anything to keep my debt from crushing me.”

Students who wish to save some money while earning their degree and apply for the foundation scholarships can do so by visiting the WSU Foundation page on the Winona State website.