Saturday I drove to Cedar Falls to meet with the Iowa Grand Commander's Educational Foundation. This foundation is in cooperation with the Grand Encampment. In the past their primary cause was student loans. Over the years they have made many loans to deserving Iowa Students. Last year three loans were made with one more being processed.
The ability to collect on some of the loans has been troublesome. The Foundation is considering giving scholarships also. I recommended that they start a scholarship program. They approved the idea and are going to start writing the details and structure for a scholarship program. The idea is that it will be a locally generated recipient. And the local Commnadery will receive credit for the scholarship and be responsible for selecting a recipient and making the presentation. Of course, not every Commandery will receive approval for their recipient. We are considering starting with just six scholarships, with one to be given to a Commandery in each district to award. I would welcome any comments on this new undertaking. I am proud the Grand Commandery is utilizing some of the funds of this foundation to help Iowa's students. Let me know what you think and if the Foundation is going in the right direction.
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Scholarships, not loans, are the way to go. Most students rely on scholarships to offset some of the loans that they have to get in order to pay for school. What they really need are scholarships.
ReplyDeleteAnother suggestion is to not limit the scholarships to only college, but include trade schools, graduate and doctorate degrees, community colleges, seminary, and other similar schools. We need more than just the usual liberal arts graduates, we need people that know a trade, are specialized in a particular field, and can minister to us through faith.
However, I would restrict scholarships for students attending trade schools, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges to Iowa schools only. The others I mentioned may require someone to matriculate out of state, but should not be penalized for it. For example, each denomination of church has a very limited number of seminaries, and there simply may not be any in Iowa.
Finally, don't limit it to high school seniors, but include those who have received their GED, bachelor's degree, or an advanced degree that are looking to further their education. For example, I know a young man who is ineligible to receive many scholarships because he received his GED, but it seems like he is being penalized for getting his life on track just because he didn't get it right the first time. Rather, he should be rewarded for getting things right, albeit not on the traditional track. Also, consider the people who worked in manufacturing (for example, Maytag), and lost their job because the plant closed. Their skill set was specialized for that one job, and now they need to retool to become marketable employees. However, they can't necessarily afford to get re-educated. These are the types of people that need scholarships.
Just my thoughts.