The Antioch Board of Trustees announced Tuesday that college will extend full tuition scholarships to the first four classes of students. This includes current Antioch students, and all students admitted to the college for the next three years.
Cezar Mesquita is the Dean of Admissions at Antioch College. He says the decision to offer free tuition comes as the college had a strong year financially. The sale of its stock in YSI incorporated totaled 35 million dollars and the endowment has grown nearly 107 percent. Mesquita adds that it's also a recruitment effort. He says the college will be able to attract quality students no matter their economic background.
"I think every college looks at their overall resources and say to themselves, 'what can we do to hedge our bets?' says Mesquita. "The numbers of applications are coming in and are coming in at a good steady growth. We had to look at all of this information and say 'what can we do to really provide some oomph in our message to go out there and recruit some of the best students who will really bring some vibrancy to the community?"
Mesquita says the college is also looking for additional sources of funding in the future, including alumni support and larger foundations. He says the application process for next year is still underway and the goal is to have 75 students accepted to Antioch College next year.