Scholarship Campaign Enhances Higher Education Access and Completion
(Santa Ana)—The Santa Ana College (SAC) Foundation Board of Directors announces a $100,000 gift to its Centennial Scholarship Campaign from SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union (FCU), which will be matched dollar for dollar by the SAC Foundation. The goal of the campaign, which celebrates the college’s 100th anniversary in 2015, is to build a new scholarship endowment and increase the overall support for scholarships for deserving, high-need students. With this gift, the SAC Foundation announces that a total of $948,000 has been raised, creating 87 new scholarships for the Centennial Scholarship Campaign. With the SAC Foundation’s matching gift, the total campaign to date is $1.7 million.
SchoolsFirst FCU and Santa Ana College share a joint history. The Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union (now SchoolsFirst FCU) was founded in 1934, when 125 school employees, many of them SAC employees, pooled $1,200 and established a financial institution to help improve each other's lives.
“We have enjoyed a long partnership in education with Santa Ana College and we are honored to participate in the Centennial Scholarship Campaign,” said Rudy Hanley, SchoolsFirst FCU president and CEO.
The Centennial Scholarship Campaign, “Supporting Access and Completion for the Next 100 Years,” is a three-year “100 for the 100th” fundraising drive to support the goal of a college degree in every home. The foundation is seeking gifts at various levels, including:
- Major gifts of $100,000 or more
- Endowed gifts of $25,000 or more ($1/$1 match by the SAC Foundation.)
- Invested gifts of $10,000 or more
- Annual gifts of $1,000 or more
- General Centennial Fund gifts at any leve
“Santa Ana College has enjoyed a longtime partnership with SchoolsFirst FCU,” said Erlinda J. Martinez, SAC president. “SchoolFirst’s financial generosity will fund eight $1,000 scholarships annually helping our students achieve their dreams. Gifts to our Centennial Scholarship Campaign will help support access and college completion for the next 100 years.”
The community that surrounds Santa Ana College has a concentration of families living below the poverty level. According to the U.S. Census, 19.5 percent of Santa Ana’s population is below the poverty level, while that figure is 14.4 percent statewide and 15 percent nationally.
“Full-time enrollment fees for California community colleges are currently $1,104 a year,” said Ken Purcell, president of the SAC Foundation Board of Directors. “For our students, many who juggle jobs and a family, scraping together enough money to pay even modest community college enrollment fees can make the dream of higher education hard to attain. These new scholarships will change families’ futures.”
For more information about the Centennial Scholarship Campaign, please contact the SAC Foundation at (714) 564-6091 or foundation@sac.edu.
About the Santa Ana College Foundation
The Santa Ana College Foundation is committed to ensuring that no student is denied educational opportunities due to financial constraints. The foundation strives to maintain, expand and enhance the educational opportunities at Santa Ana College and to link community organizations, businesses, funding sources, alumni and staff preserving “A History of Success, A Future of Promise.”
About Santa Ana College
Santa Ana College (SAC), which will turn 100 years old in 2015, serves about 18,000 students each semester at its main campus in Santa Ana. The college prepares students for transfer to four-year institutions, provides invaluable workforce training, and customized training for business and industry. In addition, another 13,000 students are served through the college’s School of Continuing Education located at Centennial Education Center. Ranked as one of the nation’s top two-year colleges awarding associate degrees to Latino and Asian students, the college is also recognized throughout the state for its comprehensive workforce training programs for nurses, firefighters, law enforcement and other medical personnel. SAC is one of two comprehensive colleges under the auspices of the Rancho Santiago Community College District. Visit www.sac.edu to learn more.
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