When not meeting with students, faculty, alumni, trustees, and his team members on campus to keep things running as well as they do, Dr. Roberts is often out and about sharing Reinhardt’s vision with others on what the University is doing for students on and off our campus.
In the beginning of February, Dr. Roberts met with legislators on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to advocate for Reinhardt University and other private higher education institutions to receive assistance in the form of an increase of Pell grants as well as expanding the eligibility of Pell grants. He helped legislators understand that private, not for profit colleges are “mission and values” driven and contribute to the workforce and, what President Roberts calls, the “lifeforce” of our communities. He shared several success stories of students past and present who are thriving due to the institutional and federal grants and scholarships that they are afforded during their academic endeavors at Reinhardt.
During the ’21-’22 school year, 99% of Reinhardt University students received some form of financial aid, and this coming academic year the Pell grant will be increased. Increases to federal grants do not come without consistent, kind, and persuasive influence from private college presidents like Dr. Roberts who share with our legislators positive Reinhardt stories and positive student outcomes. In many ways, it’s a lesson that our voice is powerful when we use it in a way that others can hear us and sympathize with our meaningful cause.
