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Wooing Quakers back to George Fox

College recruitment — Plan is to attract more incoming Quaker students from the Northwest

• By: Laurent Bonczijk  
• Published: 10/6/2009 8:42:31 AM

   George Fox University is a historically Quaker school, but its student body hardly reflects that.
   In order to increase the number of Quaker students, the school has hired Jamie Johnson to be director of the Friends Leadership Program. A 30-year-old 2000 graduate of GFU,  Johnson said he wants to barnstorm the 71 congregations of the Northwest Yearly Meeting to drum up interest for GFU among their high school seniors.
   He added that his goal is to reacquaint churches and youths with GFU so that college-bound seniors at least consider the school when they’re thinking about their higher education.
   Johnson said that his sales pitch will center on “at least consider, at least apply” at George Fox and wait to make a decision until you’ve received a financial aid offer from the school. While he reckoned there might be some sticker-shock effect when students look at the $34,500 cost of attending the school for one year (this includes tuition, fees, room and board), “hardly any one pays the sticker price,” Johnson said.
   As a matter of fact, after financial aid many students may find GFU competitive even with state schools. Besides the regular financial aid awards, Johnson said that Friends who receive scholarships from their home churches are eligible for up to $2,000 in matching funds from the university.
   Besides recruiting, Johnson will also hold events on campus to raise awareness about the Friends’ creed and its roots in the university. Ten $2,500 scholarships will be given each year to Quaker students who will in turn participate in leadership activities on campus.
   Johnson will reach out of the Northwest Yearly Meeting to Southern California. His goal is to increase the number of Quakers among incoming freshmen from about 20 to 35 next year and then aim for 35 to 50 each subsequent year once he builds momentum.
   “There aren’t any that are quite like us,” he said of Quaker schools around the country, adding that unfortunately “our Friends students aren’t looking at other Friends schools.”

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