Sean Burke, 2007 winner
Heather Tody, 2007 winner
by Mark McGowan
For years, NIU students who also are children of civil service employees have been invited to apply for a pair of scholarships each worth $500 a year.
Members of the Operating Staff chip in annually to raise the $1,000 necessary.
Now leaders of the Operating Staff Council have launched a campaign to endow a $25,000 scholarship fund that would finance the awards for years to come through interest accrued by the account.
If 1,000 members gave $1 per pay period for a year, the endowment would reach $24,000. That total would top $40,000 if all of 1,700 employees participated.
“This would put us on a permanent footing,” said Clair Williams, who is leading the fund drive for the Operating Staff Council’s public relations committee. “Once you have it endowed, it’s there for perpetuity to provide a constant source of money. As people make donations, and if there are good earning years, there is a potential to have the endowment grow.”
Williams compares the fund drive to the “one for all, all for all” concept behind the Sick Leave Bank. NIU employees can donate compensable sick leave days that assist colleagues who have exhausted their own sick leave.
“This would be another example of a way Operating Staff members could pool, or come together, for a common cause: to help another person, in this case a son or daughter,” Williams said. “That’s the heart of what we’re trying to do. It’s a very low-cost way to come help a few of our children with the cost of a college education.”
According to a flier created to promote the endowment campaign, a year at NIU, including tuition, fees, books and insurance, costs more than $10,600. That figure does not include housing, transportation and other personal and miscellaneous expenses.
“The Dependent Scholarship is an important program to support. It gives employees a chance to reward members of our own NIU family,” says Jay Monteiro, president of the Operating Staff Council. “It’s a nice little bonus that the student can use any way they need. It is not specifically designated for tuition and books, like other scholarships. With costs going up, and the state of the economy, any way we can help our fellow co-workers’ children to succeed is important.”
Staff at the NIU Foundation will manage the endowment. For more information about the scholarships, including past winners, visit http://www.niu.edu/osc/dependentaward/index.shtml.