Scholarships get boost

Welty pledges matching dollars to help students finance college

By Sara Pacheco

Students will have better opportunities to finance college with a partnership between the university, university president John Welty announced Wednesday at the Smittcamp Alumni House.

Fresno State is one of two new campuses to join the Collegiate Partners program, effective this month.

The campus joins about 500 post-secondary educational institutions, called Collegiate Partners, who pledge to maximize Dollars for Scholars awards by providing matching funds.

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium and Dollars for Scholars programs are two prominent local organizations that help devise programs and assist local communities in raising funds to promote higher education enrollment and attainment in the Central Valley.

The collaboration between the organizations and the university is a key to “how we can promote more students going on to college,” Welty said.

Welty said a survey found that only 28 percent of students in the CVHEC section who qualify for grants actually submit their applications. This means local students are missing out on opportunities to get money for college.

“ One of the biggest barriers for attending college is the perception that college is out of reach financially,” said Allan Carden, executive director of the consortium.

The benefit for local students, with the assistance given by the consortium and Dollars for Scholars to help local communities raise money for their college attendees, is that more students will be able to continue their college classes. This will also help raise the graduation rate in the Central Valley.

Dollars for Scholars is a community-based, volunteer-led scholarship group that helps manage and maximize the benefits of scholarship programs. The consortium is a nonprofit organization of 23 public and private institutions of higher education that promotes programs and polices aimed to increase higher education attainment in local areas.

Ann Worley, director of California Dollars for Scholars, announced that “last year, volunteers and other California Dollars for Scholars chapters overall donated over $1.5 million in scholarships to deserving students.”

Chapters of Dollars for Scholars can range from a neighborhood, church, school or any interest group who want to raise money for students.

“ Dollars for Scholars leaves a legacy of community involvement and community empowerment,” Worley said.

Carden said the consortium is working to publicize their new Web site, www.collegenext.org, which advocates attending college and provides more than 200 links to various scholarships and financial aid information.

Local high school administrators are being contacted with information about the consortium and their Web sites, to get more students enrolled in higher education classes.