Media Contact: Ann Worley 1.800.335.4504

Building Community Scholarships

UC Merced and Merced College Help Bring New Scholarship Opportunity to Local Students
Event introduces College Next and Dollars for Scholars to Merced Community

A major effort to boost financial support for college attendance in the Merced area will be unveiled Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004 at 4:00 p.m. at a mixer hosted by Merced College and UC Merced to introduce the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC) and California Dollars for Scholars to the community. The event will be held at the Tri-College Center at 3600 M Street in Merced.

California Dollars for Scholars and the CVHEC through its public outreach campaign College Next are working together to build financial and academic support for youth in local communities. The goal is to increase college-going rates in the Central Valley. UC Merced and Merced College are bringing the effort directly to Merced County.

Merced College President Dr. Ben Duran said, “A partnership with Dollars for Scholars and College Next promises to be a real benefit to Merced area students.”

Developing Dollars for Scholars chapters to serve the students in and around Merced means more private scholarship money for students - helping to ease the cost of attending college for many families.

Dollars for Scholars organizes, grows and maximizes the benefits of either a new or existing scholarship program, explained Kara K. Lapish, California Dollars for Scholars program manager. The Dollars for Scholars program provides advantages that benefit volunteer-led, community groups, she said.

Both Merced College and UC Merced have become part of Dollars for Scholars’ national Collegiate Partner program, according to Lapish. These more than 500 schools nationwide agree to maximize Dollars for Scholars scholarships at their campuses.

California Dollars for Scholars currently has seven chapters in the Valley: Clovis High School Cougar Foundation; Fresno’s University High School Dollars for Scholars; Hallmark’s Dollars for Scholars in Sanger; Dollars for Scholars in Madera; Farmersville Dollars for Scholars; Woodlake High School Foundation Dollars for Scholars; and Dollars for Scholars Migrant Education, which serves migrant students in Tulare and Kings counties.

“We are enthusiastic about our relationship with Dollars for Scholars because the organization provides additional resources for students in the Valley’s communities that are absolutely necessary,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost of UC Merced David B. Ashley. “Access to financial support is key to our students’ ability to pursue higher education.”

“The volunteer-led chapters in Woodlake, Farmersville and Madera awarded nearly $75,000 in scholarships during the last school year,” Lapish said. “It is clear that Dollars for Scholars is already having a positive effect in the Valley. We are expanding our program so that more students in Merced will benefit as well.”

Founded in 1958 with one man’s idea of everyone in his town giving just $1 to start a local scholarship fund, Dollars for Scholars has grown into the multi-program Scholarship America, the nation’s largest private sector scholarship and educational support organization. Since 1958, its scholarship programs have awarded $1 billion in scholarships to one million students.

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium was established in March 2000 by the presidents and chancellors of the San Joaquin Valley’s colleges and universities “to help build a healthy future for the Central Valley,” said Dr. Allen Carden, executive director of the consortium. “By working together, our higher education institutions can make a positive impact on the educational achievement of our region, and can help improve the quality of life in this important and rapidly growing part of California.”

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium, consisting of 24 public and private institutions of higher education, is a nonprofit organization aimed at promoting programs, policies and performance designed to increase higher education attainment in the 10-county area from Bakersfield to Stockton.

For more information, call California Dollars for Scholars at 1.800.335.4504 or visit www.californiadollarsforscholars.org.

#  #  #