A total of 190 students from Lyon, Coffey and Osage counties received $1,000 scholarships this year from a new program introduced this year by the Jones Foundation board of trustees.
Jones Executive Director Sharon Tidwell said that 154 scholarships were spent at Emporia State University and 36 were spent at the Flint Hills Technical College.
All recipients were 2008 graduates of the tri-county high schools, or were 2008 GED recipients. Vouchers could be used only at ESU or FHTC.
“We’ve had nothing but positive response on this,” Tidwell said.
The Foundation will pay $500 per student to each institution for the fall semester, with the promise of more for the spring semester.
“If they enroll full-time, then they will get the remaining $500, which is customarily how most scholarships and grants are paid out,” Tidwell said. “It’s contingent upon them going that second semester because obviously the intention behind this is retention.”
The board, which received preliminary figures earlier, was to receive the official totals formally at a meeting this afternoon.
“We were just waiting for those finalized totals,” Tidwell said.
The idea of the scholarship voucher came from Jeff Longbine, a trustee who believed the $1,000 scholarships offered a means to help a large number of young people in the three counties.
“I was extremely pleased with the first year,” Longbine said. “Any time you start a new program from scratch, you got to get the word out and that type of thing, and I think we did that to a certain extent.
“Hopefully, we got some kids to college that maybe couldn’t have gone to college otherwise, and hopefully we got some kids to stay in the community that might have gone to other places.”
barefootin (anonymous) says...
This is a great way to encourage high school graduates to go to college or votech. That money will go a long way in the bookstore for students.
October 8, 2008 at 10:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Happiness08 (anonymous) says...
We are very blessed to have the Jones Foundation. They not only help with things like this, but also will pay for orthodontic work and medical bills for children under 18. They paid for my books when I went to the Vo Tech 10 years ago. I can only say good things about them.
October 8, 2008 at 11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )