NEWPORT, R.I. - Salve Regina University has joined Tuition Rewards, a unique college savings program from SAGE Scholars that rewards families who patronize participating financial partners with points that can be redeemed for tuition discounts at member schools.
Participating families earn Tuition Reward Points, similar to frequent flyer miles, by saving for college with a variety of financial partners, including the Pennsylvania & Wisconsin state 529 college savings programs, The College Tuition Benefit, First Midwest Bank, credit unions and national marketing organizations.
When registered students attend a participating private college, the family's accumulated Tuition Reward Points are redeemed as a scholarship - a non-need based grant or discount - capped at one full year's tuition spread evenly over four years (or as negotiated). Participating colleges benefit by gaining the ability to market to the 175,000 participating students once they reach 9th grade. Member colleges have found the demographics - students from families actually saving for college and who have indicated interest in attending a private college - to be attractive.
Salve Regina is the first Rhode Island member and 62nd Catholic college to join Tuition Rewards, expanding the consortium to exactly 250 private colleges & universities in 41 states.
Set against the backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean and Newport's famous Cliff Walk, Salve Regina boasts perhaps the most scenic college campus in New England. More than 20 historic properties on 80 oceanfront acres that were once Gilded Age summer estates have been restored and adapted to form the core of a renowned campus home to 2,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate students from 35 states and 16 countries.
For more than 60 years, Salve Regina graduates have been making a difference through their work and in their communities. More than the awe-inspiring ocean vistas, the historic mansions or the modern campus facilities, it is the promise of each student's future that is most important to the college community. The university's mission echoes that of its sponsoring order -- the Sisters of Mercy -- to work for a world that is harmonious, just and merciful.
The Tuition Rewards enrollment consortium has been expanding nationally in 2010, attracting colleges in the mountain states and West -- Prescott College (AZ), University of San Diego (CA) and Westminster College (UT) -- as well as four Illinois schools: Concordia University Chicago (IL), Elmhurst College (IL), North Central College (IL) and Olivet Nazarene University (IL). Also new to the consortium in 2010 are Calumet College of St. Joseph (IN), Eastern Nazarene College (MA), Susquehanna University (PA) and Valley Forge Christian College (PA). Forty-eight Pennsylvania private colleges now belong to the expanding consortium, which has added 56 new colleges in the past 28 months.
"There's no downside for a college to join. It doesn't cost a college anything, and most will gain additional, well-qualified students," declared Dr. James B. Johnston, chairman and CEO of SAGE Scholars. "By providing both financial incentives and unbiased information to families, in a collective fashion, we can encourage them to sensibly plan and invest for their children's, or grandchildren's future. With more than 175,000 students now enrolled and with the sort of magic sound of '250' colleges, I think we've made a nice step toward that goal."