Hollins University is launching a new initiative that will enable academically talented young women from across the country to complete a four-year degree with the direct costs of attendance (tuition, on-campus food and housing, and fees) fully covered.
Beginning today, first-time, first-year domestic undergraduate students who apply to attend Hollins and are eligible for the Pell Grant (generally those whose family household income is at or below $65,000) will automatically receive consideration for a Hollins Opportunity for Promise through Education (HOPE) scholarship. HOPE Scholars, who will begin at Hollins in fall 2025, will have the direct cost of on-campus food and housing (traditionally noted as “room and board”) and fees covered in addition to tuition.
“We believe in the power of the Hollins academic and residential experience and want to ensure that students can access this experience regardless of income level. At Hollins, students learn inside and outside of the classroom, and the generous and comprehensive HOPE Scholars program makes a holistic experience possible,” states President Mary Dana Hinton.
“To the future leaders, the budding scientists, the talented artists, and the change-makers: We see you, and we know you’re the future,” Hinton says. “Our HOPE Scholars program will allow you to pursue your passions and achieve a college education with no debt and no loans.” She adds that HOPE is made possible through funding from Hollins as well as applicable federal and state grants.
Hollins established its original HOPE Scholars program in 2021 to cover the cost of tuition for qualified students who live within a 40-mile radius of Roanoke, Virginia. Since that time, Hinton explains, “HOPE students have thrived at Hollins. The program’s tremendous success encouraged us to think more broadly, expand nationally, and enhance the scholarship benefits beyond just tuition, allowing our students to have a remarkable residential experience as well.”
Emphasizing that “affordability has been and will remain a priority for Hollins,” Vice President for Enrollment Management Ashley Browning notes that “our many other generous scholarships remain in place for those who do not qualify for HOPE. Accepted students will continue to receive a minimum of $24,000 in scholarships, and accepted Virginia residents receive at least $29,000 through a combination of Hollins scholarships and the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant (VTAG). In fact, the average Hollins undergraduate student today receives over $34,000 in scholarship and grants, which is well over half the cost of attendance.”
Hinton believes that taking the HOPE program nationwide “will elevate what Hollins can be when we lift our eyes with love in our hearts. HOPE will meaningfully alter the course of Hollins’ future as we strive to become the nation’s leading liberal arts college for women and a leader in higher education for social, economic, and civic mobility.”
Fundraising to meet the needs of the program’s initial two years is already well underway and ongoing, with a plan to fund the program in perpetuity through additional gifts to the endowment. Hinton adds, “Our ability to offer HOPE scholarships is only possible because of the incredible generosity of our Hollins alumnae/i and friends. Our trustees have given us their full confidence, and as more people learn more about it, we invite them to show their enthusiastic support for and investment in this amazing program because of the impact it will have on future generations of students.”
For more information, visit www.hollins.edu/hope.
Founded in 1842, Hollins University is dedicated to academic excellence, creativity, belonging, and preparing students for lives of purpose. Hollins provides an outstanding and academically rigorous undergraduate liberal arts education for women and entrepreneurial and innovative graduate programs for all in a gender-inclusive environment.
