Scholarship America® Designates $200,000 in Financial Aid to Assist Students in Texas and Louisiana

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scholarship America, the nation's largest nonprofit, private sector scholarship organization, will donate $200,000 to help college students affected by Hurricane Harvey.  

Grants will be awarded to post-secondary institutions in impacted areas in Texas and Louisiana. Schools will then disburse funds to students experiencing financial hardship to help with tuition, fees, books and supplies, room and board or other education-related expenses.  Allocation of funds to selected institutions will be based on student enrollment with a maximum of $20,000.  Individual students may receive up to $1,000.

"We've seen the catastrophic impact of natural disasters on students who were already struggling to pay for their college education.  The risk of dropping out altogether escalates exponentially when a natural disaster like a hurricane strikes their school or family," said Robert C. Ballard, president and CEO of Scholarship America.  "Our goal, to the greatest extent possible, is to help ensure students are not forced to drop out or interrupt their education because of financial hardships created by this disaster."

Starting Sept. 18, schools can apply for Scholarship America National Disaster Relief Fund grants by going to www.scholarsapply.org/disasterrelief.  Applications will be accepted as long as funds are available or through October 31. Grant requests will be processed as they are submitted.  

"Hurricane Harvey highlights the need for an ongoing financial aid fund to assist students in the wake of disasters like this," Ballard said.  "Scholarship America's National Disaster Relief Fund was established in 2005 to help students affected by Hurricane Katrina and three other hurricanes that year.  Foundations and individuals who want to help now as well as ensure there is a National Disaster Relief Fund in place for future disasters can contribute at donations.scholarshipamerica.org."

Scholarship America will waive its management fees as part of its national disaster response.

About Scholarship America
For nearly 60 years, Scholarship America has worked directly with students, parents, colleges, businesses and communities to empower people to fulfill their college dreams. As the nation's largest private education support organization, having distributed over $3.7 billion to more than 2.3 million students, Scholarship America is now working to further engage the private sector to support programs and policies that advance equity in postsecondary education and help students overcome barriers to access, persistence and attainment. More information is available at scholarshipamerica.org or by following @scholamerica.

SOURCE Scholarship America

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http://www.scholarshipamerica.org