Bloomington North senior Christian Gettelfinger is one of two Bloomington seniors awarded the Lilly Endowment Scholarship this year.  

As high school seniors completed the college application process this past fall, they had a lot of factors to consider when making a decision for the future of their education. One of the biggest factors of the college decision process is the price tag that comes with pursuing a degree.

Each year, the Lilly Endowment Scholarship provides a few lucky Indiana seniors the opportunity to pursue higher education with worrying about the cost.

Each year, Lilly Endowment Inc. offers several four-year full tuition scholarships to Indiana students who plan to attend any accredited public or private in state school for their undergraduate degree. Along with covering full tuition, the scholarship includes 900 dollars per year for textbooks and required equipment.

North senior Christian Gettelfinger was one of two Bloomington seniors who were selected to receive the scholarship from a much larger and highly competitive applicant pool.

“I decided to apply for the Lilly because I knew I didn’t want to go far for college and saving money from the scholarship is extremely beneficial,” Gettelfinger said.

After deciding to apply, he had to go through an extensive application process that included providing detailed academic and extracurricular information as well as answering several essay questions.

After all applications are reviewed, which Gettelfinger said took about four months, a top 22 applicants are chosen, and then that number is cut down to 10 finalists.

These 10 final candidates are interviewed by 5 judges and then a final two are chosen to receive the award.

For the students that win the award, numerous doors are opened because of the much smaller amount they end up investing in their undergraduate education.

“This scholarship allows me to look into possibly more expensive schools in Indiana that I didn’t think I would go to because of cost,” Gettelfinger said.

He will also be able to take extra classes and earn more credit hours without having to worry about paying higher tuition.

As for where Gettelfinger will be attending school next fall, he hasn’t officially committed anywhere yet.

“I have not heard back yet from various schools yet so I have not made my final decision,” Gettelfinger said.

With the advantage of the Lilly, though, more doors are open to him as far as where he can afford to attend. He suggests that people take advantage of the same opportunity next year.

“I suggest that people should take advantage of the Lilly scholarship because the hard but short term [work] is worth the large savings in the end,” he said.

The application for the Lilly Scholarship will be available again at the beginning of the school year next year and due some time in the early fall.