There are all kinds of scholarships that help students pay for books, classes and school supplies, but now there is a scholarship that provides students with an entire semester’s worth of meals.
UH Dining Services is offering the scholarship that provides 21 meals per week and an extra $100 in Cougar Cash — a value of over $1,500.
“I think it is amazing,” former scholarship recipient Ashley Coates said. “It will be so nice to get through so many exams and assignments on a full stomach.”
An average UH student who regularly eats and shops for supplies on campus can spend as much as $90 a week, resulting in over $300 a month. With this scholarship, a student could save that money every month for an entire semester totaling up to over $1,200.
Unlike most scholarships, the meal plan scholarship does not require a mountain of paper work and essays to apply.
“It was extremely easy to apply for this scholarship,” Coates said. “I have applied for many scholarships during my studies here and there is usually a hefty amount of information that you need to include, and it is usually an exhausting process.”
The scholarship was first offered to students by Dining Services in an effort to help out full-time students.
Dining Services donates the funds for the scholarship each semester.
Ten students have received the scholarship during Fall 2010 and Spring Semester of 2011, with two students winning twice in a row.
Students with at least a 3.0 average and a minimum of 12 hours are encouraged to apply.
The deadline for the Spring semester has already passed, but students who are interested in applying should check in with the Financial Aid office or visit room 31 in the E. Cullen building for more information.
community members who park in front of their houses.
David Boulos, a Hotel and Restaurant Management senior who has parked in the neighborhood for two years, had not heard about the neighborhood’s new parking policy when asked.
“It’s expensive and ridiculous having to fight for a spot (on campus),” Boulos said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now.”
Ginger Walker, a UH Department of Public Safety executive administrative assistant, said that the University is standing by to help students with the transition.
“If a student’s car gets towed in the neighborhood, we will do everything we can to help them locate them,” Walker said.
The department has no affiliation with the neighborhood and no control over the enforcement of the new policy.
The City of Houston Parking Management Department will enforce the parking restriction, beginning with warning citations and eventually implementing parking tickets and towing.
Students without permits could still find free parking next to the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, with whom the University has a partnership.
An estimated 75 to 85 percent of students commute to campus every day, Jonas Chin, University Services program coordinator, said.
“We’re worried about the welfare of students, faculty and staff,” Chin said.
Parking spaces are expected to decrease by an estimated 1,929 spaces over the next two years, Chin said, as the University undergoes several construction projects.
“Things will not even out until 2013, when we will have a surplus,” Chin said. “Our number one priority is finding temporary parking spaces.”
Chin also said that some parking locations, like the lot by the Energy Research Park, are severely underused.
The Energy Research Park, located two miles from campus, has 200 parking spots available to UH commuters with economy passes. Those commuters could then take the shuttle to campus.
The University is also pushing UH community members to consider biking, walking, carpooling, riding METRO, and other alternative methods of transportation as spaces become rare.
The University’s goal is to have 5 percent of the campus community using alternative methods of transportation by the end of 2012.
