2012-2013
The Robert T. Kenney Scholars Program at
American Savings FoundationA college education has been a steppingstone to economic opportunity for generations of Americans. However, not all students have equal access to this opportunity. Research has shown that qualified low-income students attend four-year institutions at half the rate of their comparably qualified higher-income peers. And those who do enter college face continuing economic challenges. Mounting loans and family emergencies often force these bright, talented youth to put their educations on hold. Studies show that additional loans increase the likelihood that low-income students will drop out, while the same amount given as a scholarship greatly improves the chance they will stay in school. But the debt burden for students is increasing. A recent Pew Research Center report found that the class of 2008 borrowed 50 percent more than those who graduated 12 years earlier.
Helping to make college affordable is the difference that the American Savings Foundation Scholars Program makes. We hope to decrease the debt burden for our scholars, and allow them to focus on their studies. Most of our scholars receive our scholarship for all four years of their undergraduate education. Since 1996, the Foundation has awarded more than $6 million through our scholarship program, assisting more than 1,340 local students on the path to a college degree.