What exactly is the Good Guarantee and how has it progressed since its inception? It’s a promise of half-tuition for all four years of college. Is it too good to be true?
The Good Guarantee is institutional aid that Capital gives out to students with parents and/or spouses that work with a non-profit organization.
If you are working full time for a non-profit, you can also qualify as well.
The aid guarantees that the most you’ll pay for tuition is 50 percent. If you’re already paying less than half tuition through scholarships and other aid, you can’t use the Good Guarantee to reduce it even further.
This is the situation that Trinity Langbein, freshman, is in.
“I ended up getting a bigger scholarship from Capital,” said Langbein, “so I don’t have it right now.”
Even if your scholarships and aid have reduced your tuition below 50 percent, it might be a good idea to still apply if you have parents working in a non-profit field.
“They keep it in your record, so in case you slowly start to lose your scholarships for one reason or another, you can always fall back on it,” Langbein said.
The application process is done once and you never have to worry about it again.
If at any point your parent stops working at their non-profit job, you can still technically get aid because no one will be checking to make sure they’re still with the non-profit.
Once you receive the Good Guarantee, it will follow you throughout the rest of college, so long as you meet the tuition conditions that were stated earlier.
Another important note, the Good Guarantee does not come into play when paying for room and board. Those rates stay the same.
There was a total of 723 incoming students this semester, which is a record-breaking total.
Susan Kannenwischer, Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Services, believes that the Good Guarantee had something to do with that.
“You know, that hit national media,” Kannenwischer said, “so students all over the country heard about Capital University.”
Out of those 723 students, a total of 275 qualified, and of that, 109 of those students are actually experiencing the benefits of the Good Guarantee.
This aid program was conceptualized by Dr. Beth Paul, but it eventually grew into a large, collaborative effort among the administration.
“Dr. Paul certainly made it a focus as we were trying to redefine our mission and our vision and our values of Capital University,” Kannenwischer said, “and restate them based on where we are today.”
For Kannenwischer, the Good Guarantee is a way for Capital to pay respect to those who are helping to sustain a healthy community. This ranges from firefighters to teachers.
“Some of these people have given up the option of corporate jobs that are making six and seven figures,” Kannenwischer said. “They’re making a sacrifice for their family.”
It’s Capital’s way of showing that college can be affordable for these very families.
For more info on the Good Guarantee, visit capital.edu/good-guarantee.
