Saint Anselm College will extend a scholarship program that offers free tuition to students from Maine and Vermont starting next fall.
The scholarship, called the Anselmian Community Commitment, has been offered to New Hampshire students since fall 2025 and aims to make a private college education more affordable. Students from families that earn a yearly income of $100,000 or less are eligible.
The college saw applications from students from New Hampshire jump 36% between 2024 and 2025, according to college spokesperson Paul Pronovost. That year, the college received 648 first-year students as it rolled out the scholarship, the most in its history.
Seeing that the program was successful in New Hampshire and that Saint Anselm is in a good financial state, Pronovost said the college decided to expand the program.
“We wanted students in those communities to realize that a private college education was perhaps more affordable than they realized, and this was a way to draw their attention to that fact,” Pronovost said.
Saint Anselm has grown its enrollment by 15% in the past four years. College President Michael Lewis, who stepped into his role in July, has prioritized expanding enrollment, Pronovost said.
“With a growing student body, new state-of-the-art nursing and health sciences facilities, and tremendous momentum, Saint Anselm College is increasingly well positioned for the future,” Lewis said in a statement.
In addition to the income requirement, students must plan to reside on campus and have earned a high school GPA of 3.25 or higher, filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and completed the application process in order to be eligible for the Anselmian Community Commitment. Transfer students are not eligible.
“I think that many families, they know that typically college prices are not the sticker price, that there are often scholarships or aid packages that help bring the price down, but I don’t know that people fully realize how significant that can be,” Pronovost said. “A program like this introduces them to the fact that it can be significantly less than a sticker price they see on a website.”
