The University of Southern Mississippi is located in the medium sized city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The university is commonly referred to as the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles is the current mascot and nickname of the University, but this was not always the case.

The school, founded in 1910, has a history of many different nicknames throughout its rich history. The first nickname was the Tigers. The Tigers is a popular nickname in the southern part of the United States where neighboring schools Auburn (located in Alabama) and LSU (located in Louisiana) also have the common nickname and mascot of the Tigers.

Following the initial Tigers nickname the University of Southern Mississippi switched to the very unique nickname Normalites (derived from the early name for the university – Mississippi Normal College). From there the nickname changed several times as the school was represented with the names Yellow Jackets, Confederates, and Southerners in that order. It was an alumni/student vote in 1972 that choosen the Golden Eagles name that is still used to this day.

The students and faculty at the university have gone as far as to provide the golden eagle mascot a proper first and last name appropriate. It is not uncommon for colleges to give their mascots names, examples include: the University of Florida with Albert the Alligator and Michigan State with their Spartan mascot named Sparty. In the case of Southern Miss the full name of their mascot is Seymour d’Campus. The name Seymour d’Campus is a play on words intended to be read as “see more of the campus.” The modern name was influenced by the 1984 World’s Fair mascot by a similar name: Seymour d’Fair. The resourceful students and faculty of Southern Miss adapted the World’s Fair mascot name to suit their own agenda.

It should come as no surprise that Seymour attends Southern Mississippi sporting events year round and frequently makes appearances at university and community events. In addition to public appearances Seymour the Golden Eagle can often be found partaking in television promotions for local businesses. Over the last ten years Seymour has competed in numerous national mascot competitions that are designed to select America’s favorite collegiate mascots. During the first ten years of the twenty first century Seymour the Golden Eagle made numerous appearances in the top twenty results and even occasionally finished in the top ten with his best showing being a 7th place finish in the 2002 UCA Mascot National competition.

With its long history of integration and education, the state of Mississippi boasts of no less than 25 top class universities. However the best part of it is that whichever university one chooses, financial aid in Mississippi is available. Such aids are available not only in form of grants, fellowships, and other assistance but also in form of Mississippi scholarships and therefore financial constraints won’t come on the way of pursuing education for any meritorious student in Mississippi.

Mississippi Scholarships and Mississippi Financial Aid Types

Four types of Mississippi finance aid are available for aspirant students. As usual the first two of them are federal and state grants and aids while the other two are Mississippi scholarships and aids provided by universities and colleges as well as other organizations and foundations.

Mississippi State Finance Aid

Federal aids and financial assistance provided for students are usually uniform in pattern and obtained by applying through FAFSA or the free application for federal student aid. However the state based Mississippi financial aid has some different characteristics in comparison to other states.

Usually such financial aids are available in two forms. One is for the undergraduates while the second one is for the graduate. Junior or the senior college students those are pursuing the license for Class “A” teachers and are residents of Mississippi would be eligible for the William Winter Teacher scholarship in Mississippi.

Other notable aid programs are the summer developmental program grant, nursing education scholarship or loans for junior or senior students, Nissan scholarship, Mississippi tuition assistance grant, scholarship for law enforcement officer and fireman services, and the very special eminent scholarships grant. Last but not the least there is the higher education legislative plan for those who cannot cover all their educational expenses with other aid programs and health care professions loan and Mississippi scholarship for undergraduates.