FHTC endowment drops 26 percent
Flint Hills Technical College
Friday, January 16, 2009
As is the case with many university and college foundations, the Flint Hills Technical College Foundation is seeing the impact of the economic downturn of the stock market as it relates to the value of the school’s endowment. At year end, the foundation’s endowment is down approximately 26 percent since June 30, 2008. The downturn will not impact current scholarships that have already been awarded for this academic year. The foundation investments are conservatively managed. The foundation’s finance committee is closely monitoring the situation and will make a recommendation to the full board of directors at a later date as to scholarship giving for the next academic year.
Scholarship opportunities available to students have grown in recent years. Besides scholarships that are directly funded through the foundation, the college is fortunate to have many institutional scholarships that are available on an annual basis that will continue to support the students in several different programs of study. Annual gifts to the foundation designated for scholarships directly support the general scholarship fund.
As a foundation, we are very aware of the trust that our donors have placed in us and take that trust very seriously. The downturn in the economy has made an impact locally with educational endowments, personal investments, and more cautious spending. It’s human nature to get worked up about the negative and not step back to look at the positive and how we move forward.
There are a lot of great things happening at Flint Hills Technical College. The things we are doing will ultimately benefit the local, regional and statewide economy. FHTC is here to serve the workforce development needs of the community, region and state. Students attend FHTC because they know they will receive the skills that they need to help them reach their educational and career goals. To help those students be successful, we as a college and the foundation are committed to providing the best opportunities we can. Scholarships are the key to student success. Now more than ever contributions to support scholarships will provide the resources to help us fulfill our mission, according to Jodi Heermann, Executive Director of Advancement at FHTC Foundation.