Maddie Poshard is a stellar student, with excellent grades, a top ACT score, and a history of exemplary leadership at her Springfield area high school.
She is just the kind of student Southern Illinois University wants for its Presidential/Chancellor Scholarships, a taxpayer-funded free ride for four years worth about $80,000.
So why would anyone raise questions about her getting the scholarship?
Because she’s the granddaughter of the university’s president, Glenn Poshard.
People involved in college admissions say family connections are often delicate issues, and in this case everyone says the rules were followed. But some wonder whether the university’s president would have been wiser to have asked his granddaughter not to apply, to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
“That’s a tough question. It’s a tricky one. It’s a hard call,” said Dan Mann, director of student financial aid at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “I would think (Poshard) would say, ‘This isn’t appropriate for you to get the scholarship and you shouldn’t be considered.'”
“At the same time, they try desperately to get good kids to come to Southern,” Mann continued. “It’s a no-win situation for them.”
Poshard, 18, said she grew up getting SIU gear for Christmas and is excited to be a third-generation Saluki. She applied for the scholarship after getting a letter in the mail about it. She said her grandfather’s position did not deter her from applying as she “knew he would have nothing to do with the decision.”
“My first concerns began after finding out that I had received the scholarship,” Poshard wrote in an e-mail to the Tribune. “After the initial excitement I learned that not everyone would believe that I earned my scholarship fairly. My family and I discussed the potential consequences of accepting the scholarship, and then I decided the scholarship was the best way to set myself up for success in the future, no matter what criticisms may be said.”
The scholarship was created in 2001 to lure top students to the public university in Carbondale. With an ACT score of at least 30, Poshard was eligible for the award. The Riverton High School graduate said she also received scholarship offers from Xavier University in Cincinnati and St. Louis University.
Glenn Poshard, SIU’s president for more than five years, said he stayed out of the scholarship decision, though he acknowledges that people knew Maddie was his granddaughter because of the last name.
About 250 students applied for the award this year, and about 100 were invited for an on-campus interview with one of 10 three-member committees that ranked students. The financial aid director made the final decision of which 24 students would get the Presidential/Chancellor Scholar honor, the university’s “most prestigious and comprehensive academic award.”
A faculty member’s daughter also is among this year’s recipients, and children of faculty, staff and prominent community members have won it in the past, said Carbondale campus chancellor Rita Cheng.
President Poshard, a former U.S. congressman and Democratic candidate for governor, said it would have been unfair if his granddaughter didn’t have the same opportunity to apply as others.
“If she is unqualified that is one thing. But she is not unqualified. I’m not trying to get any special favors for my granddaughter and she didn’t get any,” said Poshard, who earns $320,000 a year.
The scholarships, which are good for four years as long as students maintain a 3.0 GPA, are paid for with state money, some of which comes from the president’s office fund.
University financial aid directors said that, in general, schools do not bar employees’ relatives from merit scholarships. In Illinois, children of public university employees get 50 percent off the cost of undergraduate tuition to any state school. Parents have to be employed by one of the state’s public colleges or universities for at least seven years to be eligible.
Cheng, the SIU chancellor, said she has not received any complaints about the decision to award the scholarship to Maddie Poshard. She said she questioned financial aid employees to ensure there was no bias. Cheng said “it was awkward but it seems like this was an individual who won this award on her own merit.”
At Bradley University, which provides merit aid to about one-third of its students, financial aid director David Pardieck called the SIU situation a “gray area.” Children of Bradley employees do not have to pay tuition, but occasionally a relative will be eligible for merit aid. The granddaughter of a former trustee qualified for a “small” merit scholarship for this fall, for example, Pardieck said.
Pardieck said he thought Bradley’s current and former presidents would have responded differently than Poshard did. “Simply because of the perception issue, (they) would have told their granddaughter, ‘Look don’t apply for this. Grandma and I will help you out,'” Pardieck said.
Pamela Fowler, University of Michigan’s financial aid director, said the situation is further complicated because the scholarship is funded with state money. “I would give her the recognition but not the money,” Fowler said.
