Private Colleges hold fair at ICC to attract students, but only a few visit 

By Essie Newton and Schylar Velez Garza

On Monday, a fair showcasing about a dozen Illinois private colleges and universities was held in the Student Lounge at the East Peoria campus. 

ICC offers similar opportunities to other types of colleges.

Few students attended the event, but several of the colleges’ representatives still said they were excited to share what their school had to offer to ICC students.

“There is a specific scholarship that goes from ICC to Bradley, and without that I would not have been able to attend Bradley,” Cassie Keller, a representative for Bradley University, said. “That provided me with a full ride scholarship, so that way I can succeed and be able to finish my bachelor’s degree.”

Bradley University also offers other scholarships, including one based on GPA and one given to students who have had family members graduate from Bradley.

“We give a thousand dollar scholarship just for visiting us, that we would tack on when you apply and enroll,” Laura Dreyer, a representative from Olivet Nazarene University, said. “We also give a merit scholarship to every student that comes, and it is based on GPA and how many college credits they have coming in.”

Although Olivet Nazarene University is a faith-based college, students of any religion are welcome.

“We have very broad offerings in programs, but one thing we have is the experience of having to go to school in downtown Chicago, and also the option of having classes in person, or synchronous through Zoom, or fully online,” Karen Morales, a representative for National Louis University, said. “We have scholarships that deal specifically with community colleges. We have a program called Direct to Success, which qualifies the student for a scholarship that equals a 25% discount of the total tuition.”

National Louis University also has the Louis Scholarship, which is a scholarship awarded to students with a GPA equal to or above a 3.35.