Finlandia University has introduced a new $4,000 grant for students who graduated from an Upper Peninsula high school, and announced it is maintaining current rates for tuition and room and board for the upcoming year.

“Finlandia has a strong record of controlling price increases over the long-term and maximizing financial aid to prospective students,” President Philip Johnson said. “We can do more, however, especially for our neighboring communities in the Upper Peninsula.”

The $4,000 U.P. Promise Grant is geared to make higher education more affordable to incoming students from communities in the U.P., an area that the university has seen a disproportionate decrease in student population in recent years.

The short-term actions above, which are in addition to current levels of financial aid awarding for all students and a new $2,000 Service Scholarship for students located outside of the U.P., belong to a larger project for the university – a comprehensive redesign of financial aid practices.