Wanted: more scholarship sponsors for area students

Common application figures to ease process in St. Mary's

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009

Organizers of the county's common scholarship application are putting out one last call this year for more business and community groups to join in their efforts.

BECA, the Business, Education and Community Alliance of St. Mary's County, for three years has organized a common scholarship application for high school seniors to fill out that gives access to more than two dozen financial offerings from various groups and businesses.

Mark Smith, St. Mary's public schools' BECA board member, said the group is hoping to add even more scholarships but the deadline for businesses, community groups or individuals to add to the list is Monday, Dec. 7.

"It's growing," Smith said. There are already a couple of new offerings this year, including a scholarship from the Leonardtown High School Class of 1989 and one from the St. Mary's NAACP in memory of Claudia Pickeral, a 13-year-old who was murdered while walking home from her school bus stop in Bushwood on Feb. 19, 1997.

Students fill out one application and check off which of the many scholarships linked to the program he or she wishes to apply to, including several Rotary scholarships as well as those from Educational Systems Federal Credit Union, teachers retiree association, Chamber of Commerce, several school PTAs and others. There are about 25 scholarships linked to the common application.

BECA acts as a "scholarship clearinghouse" to receive, copy and distribute applications from other businesses. The group will also provide review help and manage a particular scholarship if requested. However, for the most part each individual business or community group manages selection criteria and chooses scholarship winners.

Scholarship providers benefit by increasing the number of applications received, Smith said. "It helps them reach a wider audience," he said. Some of the providers used to get just one or two applicants each year and now get 10 or more.

The scholarship has a number of data points that allows for different ways of comparing students, he said. It also includes expected family contributions from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. "It treats everybody the same," with a common income comparison, Smith said.

Each scholarship provider is given a spreadsheet with each student's name and information, such as GPA, SAT scores, financial data, that applied for that particular scholarship.

"It's been a great success. The providers that have signed on have been very pleased," Smith said.

Linda Himmelheber, chair scholarship committee of the St. Mary's County Public Schools Retirees Association, said since the group has been using the common scholarship application participation has increased. "It went from like one to 10 or 11 applicants," the last several years, she said.

Himmelheber said that she is particularly pleased with the scholarship fair that BECA hosts each year for students and their parents. "I think that is a big help to get kids to apply for the scholarships," she said.

Himmelheber said that the BECA organizers have been responsive to feedback from the providers. "Each year they've improved the process and it keeps getting better and better.'

The benefit for students is obvious, as they have to work on just one application to apply for up to 25 different scholarships. Benefits extend to teachers, as well, who only have to write one recommendation letter instead of several for each student who comes to them. This will be the fourth school year that BECA has offered the common scholarship application. This year's application will be due from students on March 15.

jyeatman@somdnews.com