Rowan scholarship recipients will leave with a $17,000 cash bonus if they graduate in four years

When former schoolteacher LuAnn DeSandre was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer six years ago, she said it wiped out a lot of her financial resources.

She was unsure how she would help her son, Christian, pay for college.

But then he was awarded a new scholarship at Rowan University in New Jersey for students who are strong academic performers and come from lower-income families. With the scholarship, which covers all costs after federal, state, and other financial aid is applied, Christian is attending college for free, including his tuition, fees, room and board, and books.

And that’s not all: If he graduates in four years — something roughly half of Rowan students do — he also will receive a $17,000 cash bonus to spend however he chooses, an unusual, if not unique, twist in the world of financial aid for college students. Rowan is calling it the “launch into life” graduation bonus.

“This was like the universe opened up and gave us a gift back,” said DeSandre, 58, of Columbus, Burlington County.

Christian is one of six Rowan students who received the scholarship this year, targeted at students in the College of Communication and Creative Arts. The scholarships were funded by Ric and Jean Edelman, both alumni of the former Glassboro State College, now Rowan. Founders of the Boston-based Edelman Financial Engines, the largest independent financial planning firm in the country, the couple donated $10 million to Rowan to endow the scholarships. Six new recipients in the communication and creative arts college, which bears Ric Edelman’s name, will be selected each year.

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It marks a new approach to scholarship giving for the Edelmans, who for years had provided scholarships to a lot of students, but with each receiving only a small amount.

“What we discovered over the years is the scholarships ... weren’t making a difference in their lives,” Ric Edelman, 65, of northern Virginia, said in an interview. “They were still graduating with debt and in several cases dropped out of school anyway.”

The new program, which Edelman discussed in his podcast Wednesday, is designed to help fewer students but have a greater impact on their lives. The money will not only get them through college with no cost or debt, but also provide a pool of money to start their lives when they graduate in four years.

And if they don’t graduate in four years, they can use the $17,000 toward completing their education, said Sanford Tweedie, dean of the communication and creative arts college. Slightly more than two-thirds of Rowan students graduate within six years.

Edelman and Tweedie said they weren’t aware of any other financial aid programs that awarded cash bonuses to students for graduating in four years. Several national organizations that follow financial aid trends also didn’t know of any such gifts.

“We are hopeful they will put the money to good use,” Edelman said.

To help, the student scholarship winners also will take a course on financial literacy and get other support over their four years, including peer mentoring and advising. The scholarship is expected to be worth five figures a year for each student, Edelman said. Tuition, fees, and room and board top $32,000 this year at Rowan.

Edelman knows what he’s talking about. He was named the No. 1 independent financial adviser in the nation three times by Barron’s. The firm he and his wife founded in 1988, which manages $250 billion for 1.4 million households nationally, was ranked first in the nation six times.

Edelman now operates a financial education platform, called The Truth About Your Future. He hosts a daily podcast and offers a class, “Preparing Teens for Their Future: How to Prevent College from Ruining Their Lives,” where he talks about the financial importance of graduating in four years, the economic viability of various degrees, and other topics.

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The Edelmans graduated from Glassboro one year apart, he in 1980 and she in 1981. Jean Edelman, who was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Cranbury, N.J., was the first woman elected president of student government there and now serves as a trustee on the Rowan board, he said. She got her degree in consumer economics.

He grew up in Cherry Hill and got his degree in communication.

The Edelmans were not involved in the selection of the scholarship recipients. Students first had to meet the qualifications. They had to come from families whose gross income was under $65,000, and they needed at least a 3.5 GPA in high school, said Tweedie, the dean. They also had to respond to essay questions and be interviewed.

Sixty of the 1,800 undergraduates in the communication college qualified and were invited to apply, Tweedie said. Twelve did, and Tweedie said he and his associate dean interviewed the finalists and made the selection. They wanted students who were engaged and had a strong potential to graduate and who otherwise might not be able to attend college, he said.

Josalynn Maree, 18, a freshman from Laurel Springs who is majoring in biomedical art and visualization, said receiving the scholarship was “a big pull” in her decision to attend Rowan. Otherwise, she likely would have had to take out loans, she said.

“It was really good for me,” said Maree, who is planning to attend medical school and become a trauma surgeon. “I won’t have to worry about the financial aspect of college.”

But it’s not just the money that has Maree excited. It’s also the support and mentoring that’s included.

For DeSandre, who is in remission from cancer but is permanently disabled, the scholarship means Christian, a radio, TV, and film major, won’t have had to rely on loans. The graduation bonus, he said, is a major motivator to finish in four years and will help him start his life postgraduation.

“I have nothing but gratitude for the Edelmans,” he said. “They saved me.”