ECMC increases its funding to more than $16.7 million in higher education scholarships

OAKDALE, Minn., March 25, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC) announced funding for another year of the ECMC Scholars Program. Students in this program are eligible to receive up to $6,000 in postsecondary grants.

Since the program was launched, nearly 2,800 students have benefitted from the mentoring and/or scholarships provided through the ECMC Scholars Program.

"The ECMC Scholars Program allows our students to pursue their goals and dreams, but your investment in our students reaches many more people than just the ten scholarship winners each year," said Karen Wiant, college and career center coordinator at Willamette High School in Eugene, Ore. "There is a ripple effect, about which you may not be aware. As each one of our potential ECMC Scholars goes through their training and steps to apply to college and scholarships, their friends are also inspired to try a little harder—to reach a little farther―than they would have before."

The ECMC Scholars Program was created to encourage underserved students to pursue postsecondary education. The departments of education in Virginia, Oregon and Connecticut (the states in which the program is active) each selected several public high schools to participate in the program according to need-based criteria. Then, counselors and teachers from each school identified students with the potential to succeed in college, but who may need extra motivation to work up to their potential. The majority of ECMC Scholars are the first in their families to attend college. 

For more information about the ECMC Scholars Program, visit www.ecmc.org/students/scholars-program.html.

About ECMC 
Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC) is a nonprofit company that provides services in support of higher education finance as a guarantor in the Federal Family Education Loan Program. ECMC sponsors programs to help students and families plan and pay for college. We work with schools and loan servicers to lower student loan default rates, promote financial literacy, provide resources to support student loan borrowers to successfully repay their loans, offer a mentoring and scholarship program, sponsor free college access centers, and developed three curricula to support educators in reaching underserved populations. ECMC is headquartered in Oakdale, Minn.

SOURCE Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC)