Last year, 98 percent of Baker students at the College of Arts and Sciences received financial aid in the form of scholarships and grants. Nearly $24 million in aid was awarded, making our students’ education more affordable and their dream of attending Baker a reality.
A significant amount of these funds came from donors who understand the importance of supporting the next generation of scholars, leaders, and athletes. Our students are grateful for this financial support that allows them to study at Baker and follow their dreams.
Daniel Apple, Class of 2023
Business management major
Psychology and leadership minors
Daniel Apple, who is from De Soto, Kansas, was looking for a college where he could play soccer as well as study business. After researching Baker’s soccer program and academic programs, he thought the school looked like a good fit.
“Baker was actually the first school I visited, and it ended up working out great because here I am,” he said. “I really liked the community feel. It feels personal, and the faculty are committed to your success and not just trying to get you to graduate with a piece of paper.”
“I don’t think I would have been able to come to Baker if it weren’t for my financial aid, so that’s been an awesome blessing.”
For the past two years, Apple has served as a peer mentor alongside a faculty member in BK100, Baker’s course for first-year students that helps ease their transition to college life. He is also a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and has served on the executive board for two years.
One of the things Apple has enjoyed most at Baker is the opportunity to learn about other cultures.
“I’ve taken a few pretty interesting classes here that are culturally diverse. I took a Hebrew class, and I’m taking a Hinduism class, and I think that taking those classes has been one of my favorite experiences at Baker,” Apple said. “On the soccer team there are all sorts of people from all over the world. So I think that Baker in general has provided me with a lot of insight into other people and opened up my mind to outside of just Kansas a little bit.”
Apple is thankful for the opportunities Baker has offered to experience both academic and cultural diversity and plans to use these skills to pursue a career in management consulting where he can work with people directly.
Kylie Jenkins, Class of 2024
Psychology major
When Kylie Jenkins started researching colleges during high school in Parsons, Kansas, she was impressed with what she learned about Baker’s psychology program.
“I realized what a great education Baker has to offer for psychology majors like myself, and it was kind of close to home, but not too far.”
Jenkins plans to go to graduate school and then pursue a license to become a psychologist. She is confident that the support from her advisor, her coursework, and her research courses will prepare her for this career path.
While her primary focus is on academics, Jenkins values her experiences in Delta Delta Delta sorority. “I feel like that’s helped me grow as a leader and as a woman at Baker,” she said.
“Baker seems expensive on the outside, but I was fortunate enough to get a lot of scholarships from academics,” Jenkins said. “I have a few grants as well, and it was a pretty nice financial package, so that definitely helped my decision, especially considering how good Baker is at preparing people for life after college.”
Chloe Nelson, Class of 2025
Business management and economics majors
Leadership minor
Chloe Nelson heard a lot about Baker while growing up in Concordia, Kansas. “I went to a small-town church, and a lot of people went to Baker from that church,” she said. “And a lot of alumni would travel to my town for different events for church.”
Then in an English class she took during her junior year of high school for college credit, she learned that her professor’s daughter had gone to Baker and had a good experience. This further convinced Nelson that she would find the sense of community she was looking for. “My favorite part of Baker is the small-town experience,” she said.
Scholarships made it possible for Nelson to attend her first-choice university.
“Baker is really good with scholarships. They give you one off of your grades from high school. I was lucky enough to get one of the higher ones because I have always been focused on my grades, and I knew that I wanted to go to a four-year university.”
Although Nelson is busy with coursework for her double major in business and economics, she has also enjoyed courses outside her majors. “Last semester I took a psychology class with Robyn Long,” she said. “It was a harder class because I’m not a psychology major, so I didn’t understand everything about it, but it was one of the classes that I looked most forward to because she made it so fun to learn.”
Nelson also took two leadership courses. “I have loved both of them, so that’s going to be my minor now,” she said.
As for the future, Nelson hopes to maintain the sense of community in her career choice. “I want to be known as one of the business managers that knows how to lead someone in a way that makes them feel like an actual person instead of being at a top corporation and you’re just another one of the numbers,” she said.