GRIT stands for Guts, Resiliency, Impact, and Tenacity. For many college students, the biggest barrier to completing a degree program is not academic—it’s financial. Buffalo State University’s GRIT Scholarship helps ease the financial burden for deserving students.
GRIT eligibility is not based on grade point average (GPA) but rather on a student’s demonstrated GRIT. Nominations come from a faculty member or campus advocate. As such, it is the personal relationships between faculty members, staff, and students that makes the GRIT Scholarship possible.
The GRIT Scholarship is not based on GPA or academic excellence but on resiliency and determination. The scholarship is designed to help students who are faced with personal and financial challenges but are committed to success in spite of these challenges. The only firm requirement for GRIT is that a faculty member or advocate nominate the student, be able to communicate how the student has demonstrated GRIT, and commit to mentoring that student going forward.
The Buffalo State Foundation believes that a meaningful relationship with a caring faculty member or other mentor can be key to helping a student navigate and surmount unpredictable challenges. Combining mentorship with financial support can have an exponential impact beyond either one alone. The GRIT Scholarship is meant to both leverage and encourage faculty-student relationships. The main criterion of the scholarship is that the mentor can demonstrate the GRIT of the student and their commitment to long-term success.
The GRIT review committee typically approves requests where the need is one-time or short-term and there is a path to graduation for the student.
To nominate a student for the GRIT Scholarship, please email bscfoundation@buffalostate.edu with the student’s name and Banner ID along with a short narrative that explains how your student has demonstrated GRIT in pursuit of their education and how this funding might be beneficial.
Please be sure to include the GRIT aspect of their story, such as any difficulties the student may have encountered, whether they work full or part time, whether they live on campus, whether they have outside support or obligations such as family, what they are doing to further their own cause, how they are involved on campus, or any other circumstances you feel illustrate their tenacity and drive to succeed.
Also, please ask your student to fill out a General Application in the Campus Application Portal for Scholarships (CAPS). (See next Q. below.)
Students who are being nominated for the GRIT Scholarship must complete a General Application in the Campus Application Portal for Scholarships (CAPS). The student does not need to answer either of the short essay questions in the application but simply note that they are applying for a GRIT Scholarship. Students should complete the CAPS General Application even if they have submitted a scholarship application(s) in CAPS in a previous year(s).
This application gives the committee access to the student’s profile and helps answer many of the questions that typically arise during the process, allowing the committee to respond more quickly.
Once you have submitted your supporting narrative and your student has submitted the General Application in CAPS, Institutional Advancement will work with Financial Aid and Student Accounts to develop a full funding profile for the GRIT committee’s review and consideration. The committee will review the nomination materials and schedule a virtual meeting (via Zoom) with the nominating advocate to briefly review the student’s circumstances and need.
If the committee approves a student’s GRIT nomination, a formal agreement is drawn up by Institutional Advancement and signed by both the student and the mentor agreeing to abide by the conditions of the contract. These conditions generally include expectations that the student will continue to meet and communicate with their advocate and follow their advocate’s academic, financial, or other mentoring recommendations to ensure they have the tools needed to succeed at Buffalo State. Students are also required to participate in a free budgeting program provided by Arbol.
The advocate generally agrees to support and mentor the student to ensure that he or she meets the conditions for receiving the GRIT Scholarship.
GRIT awards average $1,200-$1,500 but can vary depending on circumstances.
The committee understands that financial challenges come in forms other than tuition. If a student does not have an outstanding balance on their student account, nominators are asked to try to identify specific financial needs and an approximate cost associated with those needs to give the committee a sense of the scope of the GRIT request. Otherwise, the committee will base its decision on information gathered during the advocate meeting.
GRIT Scholarships may be renewed, but the above process must be repeated; that is, students must be re-nominated, and the nomination must be approved by the selection committee.
The GRIT Scholarship was founded by longtime Buffalo State Foundation board member Michael Bonitatibus, ’79, who was inspired by Angela Duckworth’s New York Times best-selling book GRIT: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Mr. Bonitatibus believes that the smallest amount of “GRIT”—when combined with financial support and the passion of a faculty member—is invaluable in setting a student on a lifelong path of success. In reflection of these beliefs, GRIT Scholarship recipients receive not only financial aid but also education and guidance through ongoing financial literacy training.
Additional funding for GRIT is provided by generous donors through the Buffalo State College Foundation.
Should you have additional questions or need guidance along the way, please contact Lori Till, associate professor in the Hospitality and Tourism Department, or Nancy Paschke or Kate Lockhart in Institutional Advancement.
To read more about how the GRIT Scholarship makes a difference in the lives of our students, please see these firsthand accounts from faculty members who have made recent nominations.