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• www.yc.edu/ycf
YC Scholarships Change Lives
Simply stated, Yavapai College (YC) exists to help students achieve their higher education goals. Accordingly, Yavapai College Foundation (YCF) exists to secure private funding for YC, beyond budgeted sources, to improve the likelihood of a successful outcome for each and every YC student.
One of the most important ways that YCF fulfills
this goal is through scholarships for deserving students with financial need. During the past year, we provided scholarship support to over 300 students; however, another 480 students who applied for private scholarship support through YCF received none.
A primary goal of YCF is to fill this “gap” by having meaningful scholarship funding available for every student who applies each year. It is a lofty goal, but one that YCF Board, staff and volunteers are committed to.
The 2008 recession and subsequent defunding of community colleges by the State of Arizona cut deeply into YC’s ability to provide student scholarships. Since that time, thanks to hundreds of caring donors, YCF has steadily increased scholarship support and made meaningful progress to close the gap.
Some gifts are as small as $5, while others are much larger. For example, the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Prescott, together with
partners YCF, Yavapai Regional Medical Center and Margaret T. Morris Foundation, have provided free tuition scholarships for 57 Nursing and Allied Health Students over the past 4 years. Every gift is greatly appreciated!
Over the years, more than 130 separate named scholarship endowments have been established, such as Barbara Polk's Champions Scholarship for young adults who are current or former wards of the Yavapai County Juvenile Court. This fund has helped more than 100 at-risk young adults get a new start and a college education.
These are just a few of the many heart-warming stories of generous, caring people, sharing their time and treasure to improve the quality of life for every Yavapai County citizen. Did you ever receive financial support to help you accomplish your education goals? Are you now in a financial position to “pay it back” and help YCF close its student scholarship gap? My wife, Denise, and I answered “yes” to these questions, and we established and funded the Irene A. Bussart Endowed Scholarship for female students pursuing
a business degree. The fund honors Denise’s mother, who as a single parent of two, came back to school
at YC and parlayed her education into a successful business career here in Prescott.
If you would like to learn more about how you can help improve the lives and futures of deserving Yavapai County students with an educational scholarship, please contact me at steve.walker@yc.edu or visit www.yc.edu/ycf.
Steve Walker