General Information

The Presidential Campus Enrichment Grant (PCEG) was established to broaden multicultural experiences at Virginia Tech.  Its goal is to attract students with diverse backgrounds and provide opportunities to contribute to the Virginia Tech community.

Eligibility Requirements

Students applying for the Presidential Campus Enrichment Grant must submit an application and a FAFSA for the current academic year before the March 11 deadline.  The student must also display the following on his/her application:

• Commitment to Educational Diversity
• Extracurricular Activities
• Academic Achievement
• Financial Status
• Family educational background

Application Process

The Presidential Campus Enrichment Grant application can be accessed through the Scholarship's Gateway.  This application will request identifying information (i.e. Virginia Tech ID, name, etc).  It will also ask you to provide a personal statement briefly discussing the following:

• Your personal values and beliefs about multiculturalism and diversity.
• Your personal values and beliefs about learning about viewpoints that are different from yours and what your reaction has been to those viewpoints in the past.
• Your experiences interacting with individuals whose backgrounds are different than yours.
• Your personal involvement in diversity activities.  Have you held a leadership role in any of these activities?
• How you plan to contribute to diversity at Virginia Tech and ways that you can assist in making this a more welcoming community.

Educational diversity is a state of mind or philosophical approach characterized by openness to the inclusion of people and ideas from dissimilar backgrounds.  These differences could include geographic origin, language, socioeconomic status, natural origin, gender, ethnicity, disability, age, family educational background, veteran status, religion, sexual orientation, and political philosophy.  The personal statement should include an explanation of how relevant activities have influenced you personally, how they can be of value to you at Virginia Tech and beyond, and how you can make a positive contribution to the enrichment of the campus community.

Awarding Process

The Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid reviews applications and chooses recipients for the Presidential Campus Enrichment Grant.  Students who are selected will be expected to participate in different activities and programs put on by the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Expectations of Recipients

Recipients of the Presidential Campus Enrichment grant are expected to participate in various activities.  Below is a list of requirements recipients from previous years have been required to meet:

• Maintain a 2.5 or better overall GPA
• Complete a Diversity Requirement:  Participants must earn twelve merits during the course of the academic year.  Merits are awarded for various activity and participation in various functions or groups.  For example, three merits were awarded if a student became an active member of a student organization with diverse membership and/or focus on diversity and multicultural issues.  One merit was awarded if the student joined a group in which the majority of the members are from a different racial/ethnic group.  Two merits were awarded for each seminar/workshop/forum attended that addressed multicultural or diversity issues.  One merit was awarded for each lecture or presentation focused on multicultural or diversity issues.  Three merits were awarded for students who an active participant in a planning committee/group focused on diversity and multicultural issues or took a class for credit that focused on diversity. 
• Complete the Journal Requirement:  Each recipient was required to keep a journal for the course of the academic year.  Entries were to be made on a biweekly basis and were to include a summary of the event, how the event related to multiculturalism/diversity, how it affected the student personally.  Although entires are supposed to focus more on activities and experiences from the diversity requirement, they can also be made on experiences not directly related to organized activity, (i.e. conversation with friends about religion.)  However, this form of entry must still discuss how you as a student gained from the event.

        At the end of each semester, journals must be sent to Alicia Cohen acohen@vt.edu as an email attachment