Private scholarships helping to fill the gap
Recipients of the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce Charitable Foundation scholarships
Paying for college got a little easier for 100 high school grads recently honored at a celebration in St. Paul’s Rice Park. The event was sponsored by five local organizations that joined forces and together awarded about $500,000 in scholarships to the St. Paul area graduates. Many of the 100 recipients have persevered through considerable adversity. Without scholarships, most probably would not be headed for college.
Take the case of Winter Mealey, who received $1,500 from the Optimist Club of St. Paul — that amount will be matched by Augsburg College, where she’ll start in the fall. A few years ago her parents were arrested when a methamphetamine lab was discovered in their house. Mealey and her siblings spent time in foster care and with relatives; then eventually she and her sister were allowed to help her mother clean, remodel and return to the formerly condemned home. Through it all, she kept focused on her education.
Mealey participated in Admission Possible, a nonprofit that helps promising low-income kids prepare for college, where she learned that there are many private scholarships that can help pay for college. Financial need is one of the top reasons low-income students don’t go to college, according to Admission Possible’s president Jim McCorkell. “Even with federal and state financial aid available to help meet student need, low-income students’ successful entry into college often depends on being able to fill the financial gap with private scholarships,” he said.
Minnesota students borrowed a record amount last year. To help students avoid burdensome debt, more private organizations are stepping up to give dollars that don’t have to be paid back. In the past fifteen years, private grants to college students in Minnesota have increased 205 percent, according to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.
“The cost of attending college has far outstripped the growth of personal income and government assistance,” said John Tillotson of the Optimist Club of St. Paul. “We’re hoping to help plug that hole.”
The other private donors for the St. Paul celebration included the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce Charitable Foundation, the Children’s Defense Fund, the Page Educational Foundation and the Wallin Scholarship Program. “We’re celebrating what these kids have done, what our local schools have produced, and how the community has gathered its resources to send these kids on to higher education,” Tillotson said. Read more about the event and the scholarships.