Scholarship Fund Drive Successful

The LaGuardia Community College Foundation’s 2011 “Spring Into Action” campaign reached its $100,000 challenge goal, qualifying it for an additional $100,000 from the Selz Foundation to provide full tuition scholarships for qualified students.

“The Selz Challenge provided the foundation with a wonderful opportunity for generating $200,000 that will provide 58 new Spring Into Action full scholarships for students in the 2011-12 academic year,” said E. Ramone Segree, the college’s vice president of institutional advancement. “With this challenge, the foundation will be able to reach even greater milestones this year.”

The Spring Into Action campaign was conceived in 2009 by foundation board director Marilyn Skony Stamm, who chaired the campaign.

“I believed that providing full tuition scholarships would significantly assist deserving students in completing their LaGuardia education,” she said. “And our committed donors are helping us realized that goal.”

To meet this challenge, the foundation reached out to all constituency groups including foundation direc- tors, faculty and staff, alumni, local businesses, corporations and other foundations and friends of the college.

LaGuardia serves a student population that looks to the foundation’s support as a financial resource. Over one-half of LaGuardia students come from households making under $25,000 annually, and most require financial assistance, even though the college’s tuition is among the lowest in the area.

International and out-of-state students, who are ineligible for financial aid and are charge double tuition rates, look to the Spring Into Action scholarships as a way to help fill the financial gap.

“Tuition assistance not only makes attendance possible and much less challenging, but it has a huge impact on the students’ lives,” Segree added, noting that data indicates that LaGuardia students’ family income increases by 17 percent upon graduation.

Since its inception in March 2003, the LaGuardia Community College Foundation has provided over 2,600 scholarships to students. In addition, the fund-raising arm of the institution has provided funding for textbooks, transportation and state-of-the-art resources to prepare students for life’s work and leadership.

Foundation board members, donors, alumni and friends are involved in many aspects of college activities, including mentoring students, serving on advisory boards and speaking to student groups about their professions.

To learn more, visit their website, www.laguardia.edu/lagfoundation.