Thirty Students Receive College Scholarship from Iowa Nonprofit

High School Seniors Earn $2,000 Each After Demonstrating Financial Know-How

April 2, 2019

High school seniors from across the state earned $2,000 for college while learning important financial literacy skills through the 2018–2019 Iowa Financial Know-How Challenge: Senior Scholarship sponsored by Iowa Student Loan^®.

More than 4,500 Iowa high school seniors registered for the scholarship between Oct. 22, 2018, and Feb. 22, 2019. Of those, more than 2,500 completed two online financial literacy tools and a related assessment to be considered for one of 30 college scholarships.

Steve McCullough, Iowa Student Loan president and CEO, said that he is encouraged by the increased participation in the annual scholarship program. "We had more registrants this year than in any other year since the program was introduced at the end of 2013. We are exposing more students every year to the important concepts in our online tools."

The two tools required to qualify for scholarship consideration, Student Loan Game Plan and ROCI Reality Check, are among Iowa Student Loan's suite of free tools and modules that are designed to help Iowa students and families better prepare for higher education and its associated costs.

"It's truly important that families understand the complete cost of college and how the choices they make can change their debt levels before they take out that first college loan," said McCullough. "This scholarship program is one way we encourage students to take a close look at that."

One participant, Sarah H. of Forest City, found the tools and assessment she completed as part of the program very helpful. They were "definitely a reality check I needed and I know that what I learned will help me in the future," she said in an email to Iowa Student Loan.

Another participant's parent, Mary C. of Central City, also wrote to Iowa Student Loan regarding the information provided during the process. "I am just so impressed with the selection of material you provided in the training and it must have been presented well," she said, because her student "learned and retained so much and was able to communicate the information to me. I was especially impressed with her comparing her old beliefs/myths versus the factual information you provided."

Each recipient's high school will also receive a $250 award to improve or implement financial literacy and scholarship programs.

Details are not yet finalized for the 2019–2020 Iowa Financial Know-How Challenge: Senior Scholarship. Interested families should watch for information about the program at www.IowaStudentLoan.org/SeniorScholarship.

Scholarship Recipients

The following students each earned a $2,000 scholarship. Iowa Student Loan will send scholarship funds directly to recipients' colleges.

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Media Contact

Christopher Weishaar, Digital PR Specialist, (515) 273-7102, cweishaar@studentloan.org