New scholarship for students with spinal cord injuries available for 2022-23 academic year

Brody Serravalli
Tue, 01 Mar 2022 01:42:41 +0000
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A new scholarship from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation will help Ohio State students living with spinal cord injuries with school-related expenses in the 2022-2023 academic year. Credit: Courtesy of the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation

The university will offer a new scholarship next fall for students with spinal cord injuries, partnering with the largest private funder of spinal cord injury research and rehabilitation in the U.S.

Ohio State is one of six universities to be invited by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation — an organization devoted to spinal cord injury research — to offer the scholarship for the 2022-2023 academic year, joining 11 other institutions already in the program. The Neilsen Scholarship Program, through the Office of Student Life and Student Life Disability Services, will assist with the cost of tuition and fees for eligible students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree at Ohio State.?

While the exact amounts awarded will vary based on the selected students’ individual needs, Cheryl Lyons, director of SLDS, said her department expects these scholarships to be substantial.

“We’re hopeful that if a student is put forward and has a lot of financial need, the foundation is going to be generous with that award,” Lyons said. “Based on what we’ve heard from other schools, the funding packages have been pretty comprehensive.”

Lyons said four to six students will be nominated for the first year, and?? the winners will receive funding for every year they are at the university.

To be considered, students must be enrolled full time at any Ohio State campus, have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher and be able to verify they have a permanent spinal cord injury, according to the Neilsen Foundation’s guidelines.?

Eligible spinal cord conditions include neurological and functional impairments due to injury, degenerative disease and damage due to tumors or surgery, according to the guidelines. Students with spinal dysfunction, paralysis or pain syndromes caused by disorders not primary to the spinal cord are not eligible.

Scott Lissner, Americans With Disabilities Act coordinator and 504 compliance officer at the university, said although Ohio State does not formally track how many students live with spinal cord injuries, self-identification data suggests that between 1 percent and 1.5 percent of the students have a mobility impairment of some kind.

“How living with [a spinal cord injury] affects a person’s day-to-day life depends on how thoughtful we have been in creating our environment, both the built environment and the social environment,” Lissner said. “Some students require the use of a personal attendant, whether to manipulate things on campus or to complete activities of daily living like getting up and out in the morning or using the bathroom.”

Julea DeVecchio, program associate at the Neilsen Foundation, said in an email that beyond assisting with tuition and fee costs, the scholarship program specially designates funds to help students overcome these day-to-day barriers.

“The Neilsen Foundation supports the cost of tuition and fees, as well as providing supplemental support funds to remove barriers to academic progress related to spinal cord injury-associated needs,” DeVecchio said.?

DeVecchio said the supplemental support funds are to be used for housing, meal plans, transportation, books, supplies and any other resource that will assist in the education of students with spinal cord injuries.?

Lyons said the organization is looking forward to awarding these scholarships to students in need.

“We’re hopeful that if a student is put forward and has a lot of financial need, the foundation is going to be generous with that award,” Lyons said.?

For students interested in applying for the scholarship, the application is available on the SLDS website until March 18 at 11:59 p.m.