Scholarship support in hard times

Scholarships are harder to come by this year

by Lynn Moore | Muskegon Chronicle
Sunday March 08, 2009

WEST MICHIGAN -- At a time when they need them most, high school seniors are finding scholarships tougher to get this year because of the crumbling stock market.

Many scholarships are paid with interest income generated by endowed funds. But with the invested endowments losing on the stock market, many cannot support scholarships this year.

That has cut by about a third the number of scholarships being awarded through the Community Foundation for Muskegon County to this year's high school seniors, said Marcy Joy, a program officer with the foundation who coordinates its scholarship program.

"We'll be giving fewer scholarships this year," Joy said. "Just like everything else, our resources are limited this year due to the stock market being down."

The foundation has about 250 separate scholarship funds, and competition for them is high. Joy said there were 515 student applications for scholarships filed by the March 1 deadline.

"Everywhere, the demand is up," she said. "Families are pinched and we know that. We just pledge to do the best we can with the awards we have."

Joy said the Muskegon foundation continues to honor multiyear scholarships that have already been committed to students.

Foundations from throughout Michigan are experiencing the same reduction in scholarship funds, said Robert Collier, CEO of the Council of Michigan Foundations based in Grand Haven.

"There's lot of concern about the need for scholarships," Collier said. "I've heard a lot of people having conversations about how do we help maintain our scholarship commitment, so it's definitely on people's radar screens."

Collier said he hopes an increase in the Pell Grant, a federal scholarship for low-income students, included in the federal stimulus package will help offset some of the losses. The stimulus package provided for $17.5 billion to increase the maximum Pell Grant by $500, from $4,850 to $5,350. It also includes some funds to increase college loan amounts.

Mary Nellis, a counselor at Muskegon High School, said staff is working to find funding sources to help students affected by the drop in local scholarships.

"Some students work very hard to win scholarships to reduce the cost of college to their families," Nellis said. "We'll attempt to help them by making them aware of the possibilities that are still available. It takes a lot of effort on their part."

Community foundations manage scholarship funds for donors, often establishing committees to choose recipients. Usually the funds have an endowment amount that a fund cannot go below, but Joy said some donors have agreed to come up with more money this year so scholarships can be awarded.

"The generosity of our donors is just amazing," Joy said. "They are in many cases funding the scholarships this year from their pockets."