EVERETT — This year, the Everett Community College Foundation is set to give out more scholarships than it has in the past, nearly double the number from 2016-17.
So far, 248 scholarships have been awarded, and 36 more are expected to be provided in 2018. It adds up to 284, including 17 new ones created through grants or donations.
That compares to 151 in 2016-17. More than 300 students who applied for scholarships that year did not receive one.
“You like to think that you’re meeting more of the need, but when you’re growing you end up needing more,” said John Olson, the foundation’s executive director. “That’s a good challenge. We’re going to accept it and try to do more each year.”
Nearly $400,000 in scholarship money is being awarded this year.
“We have an endowment fund, and the earnings on those funds allowed us to grant quite a few more scholarships,” Olson said. “That’s shorthand for saying the market’s been good.”
More donors also have been contributing higher amounts, he said.
The average scholarship award is $1,500. The cost of taking 15 credits for a quarter last school year was $1,309. More than 19,300 students studied at the college, and about a fifth of them received need-based financial aid, according to the college’s annual report.
The high schools that send the most students to the college are in Arlington, Everett, Lake Stevens and Snohomish.
The nonprofit Everett Community College Foundation started in 1984. It raises money to support students, programs, services and projects on campus.
Scholarship donations are “as much a vote of confidence in the students as (they are) financial support,” Olson said. “The students appreciate the dollars, obviously. But they really do appreciate that someone or some organization believes in them.”
How to give
To learn more about the foundation or donate, go to EverettCC.edu/Foundation or call 425-388-9555.
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