Grant renews funds for college-bound

GLENDALE — A hundred college-bound seniors at Glendale high schools will receive scholarships again this year, thanks to a $212,750 grant from the San Francisco-based College Access Foundation of California.

In September, College Access Foundation decided to fund the Glendale Community Foundation for the second year in its work to help local students afford a post-secondary education. This year’s grant will go to college scholarships for seniors in the Glendale Unified School District as well as college freshmen who received scholarships with College Access Foundation funds last year.

“We’re absolutely thrilled we have the new funding,” said Sharon Collins, executive director of the Glendale Community Foundation.

Last year, a $115,000 grant from College Access Foundation was parceled out to about 100 seniors from Glendale high schools in scholarships that ranged from $200 to $2,000, said Ellen Cunningham, a senior program officer with the foundation.

This year, the new funding will go to scholarships for a new batch of 100 college-bound seniors, as well as renewed scholarships for last year’s scholarship recipients.

The foundation is looking for high school seniors who are committed to attending college, have a financial need and have overcome obstacles, Collins said. The foundation is still working out the process Glendale seniors will follow to apply for the grants, she said. The foundation hopes to meet with high school counselors in November to discuss the process with them. The recipients will be announced in the spring, Collins said.

All high school seniors in the district who plan to attend college are eligible to apply for the scholarships, said Mike Seaton, director of instructional support services for the school district. The scholarships are expected to be for roughly the same range of funds as last year’s scholarships, Seaton said.

Students can use the money to attend two- or four-year colleges, as well as specialized post-secondary programs like technical schools and art schools, Collins said. The foundation will also check in on the students who received scholarships with College Access Foundation money last year. Any of last year’s scholarship recipients who are still enrolled in school will be eligible for the second round of scholarships.

“They’ll have to tell us they want the funding,” Collins said.

The continued support of students who are already enrolled in college is part of an effort to keep kids from dropping out of school because of financial pressure, Collins said.

The scholarships for current college freshmen who received funding last year will probably be less than the original scholarships, she said. The scholarships for second-time recipients would likely fall in the $250 to $1,000 range, Collins said.

College Access Foundation is a relatively new grant-making organization, having formed in 2005 from the conversion of a nonprofit student loan company. The foundation gives money to community organizations rather than to students directly because it wants to take advantage of knowledge that community organizations have about the people they serve, said Caroline Boitano, the president of College Access Foundation.

“We’re funding organizations that know these kids,” Boitano said.

Collins said the renewed funding from College Access Foundation will allow the Glendale foundation to serve a wider group of people than those served by the foundation’s other scholarship programs.

“It helps us help the whole community,” Collins said.