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By David Vollrath, Executive Director Union County Foundation Both of our sons in recent years have completed their undergraduate college educations. My wife and I are grateful for that milestone for a lot of reasons but perhaps most so because we no longer are writing large checks to their Universities for tuition, room & board. Here are some figures for you that depending on your stage of life will either make you sleep better or contribute to your sleep deficit. File this under “cost of today’s college education”. According to the College Board Association the average total annual charges including tuition, fees, and room & board for in-state students at a public four year college or university in 2007-2008 is $13,589 (it’s higher in Ohio). The average total annual charges including tuition, fees, and room & board for out-of-state students at a public four year college or university in 2007-2008 is $24,044. And most alarmingly the average total charges including tuition, fees, and room & board for students at a private four year college or university in 2007-2008 is $32,307. Add to these numbers transportation charges, miscellaneous (there are many) other charges, and the fact that 4 years seems to be an optimistic time frame to achieve graduation and you can easily add thousands to the figures quoted above. The cost of a college education is so high that in 2004, upon graduation, the average student from a public college 4 year bachelor degree program had $14671 of student loan debt. That same graduate from a private institution accumulated $17125 of student loan debt in 4 years. You are probably saying “OK I get it that a college education is expensive, this isn’t new information what’s your point?” The point is this. As the cost of a college education continues to escalate it becomes increasingly important for the charitable community to accelerate support of local scholarships. We need to give more, to help more, so as to impact more. This point became “real world” clear to me recently as we concluded the 2007- 2008 scholarship season. The Foundation houses numerous scholarship funds but the reality is that the number of scholarships awarded is embarrassingly small in relation to the number of deserving students. Using Marysville High School as an example, Union Co. Foundation housed Scholarship Funds underwrote fifteen $1000 -$3000 scholarship awards. This year the graduating class of MHS had 363 students. This means that only 4% of the students received one of our scholarships. According to MHS principle Matt Crispin approximately 25 (6.88%) of the 363 students in the class had a 4.0 GPA or above. Hundreds of others worked hard, achieved much, and will truly be the backbone of our future. Based on these numbers it’s not hard to figure out that an awful lot of deserving students fell beyond the limited reach of our scholarships. The bottom line is that we can and should do better (much better) in providing scholarships to the young people of our county. I encourage you to give thoughtful consideration to underwriting a scholarship Fund or at least supporting an existing Fund. There really is no more important gift that you could give. The Union County Foundation is equipped to help you achieve your charitable goals by providin: planned giving and estate planning resource information, charitable gift annuities/life income plans, and a broad array of charitable choices including Scholarship Funds and donor advised funds. The Foundation encourages you to work closely with your professional advisor(s) as you develop your estate plan and consider your present and future charitable goals. Please call us at 937-642-9618, email info@unioncountyfoundation.org,, reference our website at www.unioncountyfoundation.org, or stop by our Marysville office at 126 N. Main St. We are committed to helping you… “preserve your footprint in time.” |
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