Classes of ‘60 and ‘61 fund new scholarships for women on campus

Starting with the Class of 1960, former alumni have begun putting together scholarships for students at Georgia College.

As the HOPE Scholarship funds continue to dwindle, alumni have started to push for ways to give back to the student body.

Beginning with the women of the Class of 1960, a $10,000 scholarship fund was formed. The scholarship will be given to a woman, mainly because while they were in school the college was strictly a women’s college. In addition, there are other qualifications, including GPA and involvement, that the student applying for the scholarship must meet as well.

“The scholarship is still too new for someone to receive it yet,” said Herbert Agnew, director of alumni relations. “The scholarship is typically not given until a year later. This gives the endowment enough time to mature to the point the money will regenerate enough every year to where there will always be money available. The scholarships are also done by fiscal years, not calendars.”

Typically, the university gives the organization raising the funds three years to get money together. However, the Class of 1960 managed to raise all of their funds for their $10,000 endowment in just one year.

Class of 1960 alumnus Joe Donahue said they managed to raise the funds for their endowment fairly early.

“By the first of June, we only lacked about $300,” Donahue said. “Now we’re up to about $17,000.”

Donahue also discussed that it is sometimes difficult to rally together classes of the school who were here prior to the switch to a coed university.

“We come from a class that had a lot of strong tradition and commitment,” Donahue said. “We were one of the first classes to push to ensure our university stayed an all girl’s college. That’s why it is hard to rally pre- coed graduates. However, all they really need to do is come down here for one weekend and realize that Dr. Leland is great and that Georgia College is still an institution with the same rigor and great faculty.”

Some students agree that the scholarships being created by former alumni is a great way to combat the problems with HOPE.

“This is a great thing that the class 1960 and 1961 are doing,” SGA secretary-elect Caroline Clements said. “It is a great way to ensure that students continue to have equal opportunities for funding through outside sources other than HOPE or loans.”

Donahue believes her class has set a precedent for upcoming classes.

“I believe we have started something that every class will hopefully do from now on. If one class looks back now and sees the classes of ’60 and ’61 started a scholarship, who would be able to stop?”

Posted by ConnorJohnson on Mar 3 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.