Create a Scholarship - Overview

Why Scholarships are Needed
Advantages of Creating a Scholarship Through the MECC Foundation
Your Options in Creating a Scholarship
Designating Your Scholarship Preferences
Assets That Can Be Used to Create Scholarships
Recognizing Loved Ones With Scholarships
How do I proceed with creating a scholarship?

Why Scholarships are Needed

It costs an in-state student $127.50 per credit hour to attend MECC. If the student enrolls full-time with at least 12 credit hours per semester, tuition costs will total $3,060 for the academic year. In addition, a student can expect the cost of books to add another 30% to that figure. Additional expenses include transportation, school supplies, and living costs. Grant and scholarship assistance is of critical importance to students because the college does not administer any student loan programs.

Most students attending MECC receive some form of financial assistance and MECC Foundation scholarships typically "fill in the gaps" in student aid. To encourage students to persist and to help them in budgeting limited resources, most scholarship awards are split to cover expenses in the first and second semesters. A student must make satisfactory academic progress in the first semester in order to receive the second half of a scholarship award.

Advantages of Creating a Scholarship Through the MECC Foundation

Your donation is tax deductible. The MECC Foundation is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit charitable corporation governed by a board of directors comprised of leaders from throughout the college's service region. The Foundation receives and manages private gifts for Mountain Empire Community College, and contracts with the trust department of a leading financial institution to invest gifts made by donors.

One of the most important missions of the MECC Foundation is to raise funds for scholarships. Foundation efforts are coordinated with the MECC Financial Aid Office to ensure that scholarships are awarded with consideration for other aid that students receive.

Your Options in Creating a Scholarship

You have several options in creating a scholarship. You can create an unrestricted scholarship, which allows the MECC Financial Aid Office to select recipients on the basis of financial need and/or academic potential. Unrestricted scholarships give the college's aid office the maximum flexibility to serve a wide variety of student needs.

If you have specific scholarship goals, you can create a restricted scholarship. Restricted scholarships specify selection criteria such as residency, curriculum, academic standing, etc.

Another issue that you will need to consider is whether to create an annual or endowed scholarship. In making a decision on the type of scholarship to create, you need to consider how long you would like a scholarship to continue and how you plan to fund it.

Gifts contributed to annual scholarships are released directly to students, usually the year after the scholarship funds are received. Continuing an annual scholarship requires continued giving over time. Annual scholarships can be established with a gift of any amount.

Funds contributed to endowed scholarships are maintained in endowed accounts, the funds are invested, and only earnings on the gift(s) are released to students in the form of scholarships. Because the donation(s) are not expended, and only the earnings in the accounts are released as scholarships, endowed scholarships continue through perpetuity. A minimum gift of $5,000 is required to create a named endowed scholarship. Donors have the option to provide the minimum gift through contributions over time.

A gift of $30,000 or more creates a fully endowed scholarship, which typically yields 3-5% per year in scholarship awards, depending on the financial markets. For example, a $30,000 scholarship endowment will support a $900 to $1,500 scholarship annually. If the endowment is built over time, lesser scholarships will be awarded in the early years while the fund is being established. The Foundation averages a scholarship's earnings over several years to determine how much funding will be available for annual awards. Using this approach to determine payout rates protects the scholarship's corpus and its ability to generate earnings over time.

Designating Your Scholarship Preferences

The MECC Foundation will honor donor preferences in the award of scholarships. For example, a donor can restrict scholarship recipient selection criteria based on the students' residence, academic major/program, grade point average, full time or part-time attendance, or other similar criteria. Donors may specify a preference for serving a student with financial need and/or academic promise. Click here to download a checklist for planning scholarship criteria.

Assets That Can Be Used to Create Scholarships

Donors use a variety of assets to fund scholarships. The MECC Foundation receives gifts of cash, securities, real estate or personal property, bequests, life insurance, retirement plans, or charitable trusts. With careful gift planning, donors can reduce federal taxes and receive a monthly income through charitable giving. The MECC Foundation also encourages donors to utilize corporate matching gift programs available through many employers.

Recognizing Loved Ones With Scholarships

A scholarship can be named for the donor or any other person designated by the donor. The MECC Foundation requests that if the scholarship is being created to honor a deceased person that written permission be granted by that person's family.