American Savings Foundation Scholars Program
A college education has been a steppingstone to socio-economic equality 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. Low-income students are 3% more likely to drop out when they need to take just an additional $1,000 in loans. But that same $1,000 given as a scholarship makes them 14% less likely to drop out. This is the difference that our scholarship program aims to make.
We hope to decrease the debt burden for our scholars, and allow them to focus
on their studies. Many of our scholars receive our scholarship for all four
years of their undergraduate education. Since 1996, the Foundation has awarded more than $5.5 million through our scholarship program, assisting more than 1,240 area scholars on the path to a college degree.
