Scholarships                                                                              Business & Finance
Michael Farr
November 20, 2006
 
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The schools that responded are all over the place in terms of what they do or do not do for scholarships.  I have attached the emails I have received.
 
 
Michael Farr   Ph.D.
General Director
Colegio Interamericano
Boulevard La Montaña, Finca El Socorro zona 16
Guatemala, Guatemala
Tel. 502 2385-7088, x 103
Fax 502 2364-1779
mfarr@interamericano.edu.gt
P.O. Box 02-5339 Section 4134
Miami, FL 33102-5339
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Scholarships; information from headnet

 

In Mexico at the American School Foundation, we awarded academic scholarships only by companies or individuals providing the scholarships.  We required them to state in writing the parameters of the scholarship and we utilized the financial aid committee to distribute the awards according to the guidelines of the donors.  We were also required by the Mexican govenrment to provide scholarships to ten percent of the students....based on need and not academic excellence.  Working with individuals on bequests or private businesses to develop a scholarship fund can be a great support to the school and can allow the school to spend budget on other needed areas.

 

Like your school, we currently do not offer scholarships based on things
like merit or parent work.  We have been trying to start up a scholarship
fund, but it hasn't been very successful yet.  We have declining
enrollment and the economy in Bolivia is still struggling, so I'm not sure
we'll  get a leg up on finances in the near future.  I would, however,
appreciate getting the results of your inquiry, just in case!

 

Criteria for Scholarships

 

Director’s Scholarship

The school builds a fixed fund into the budget each year, to be used by the Director to recruit new students into the school.  Fund available under this account are at the full discretion of the Director (From section 2.82) 

 

In order to maintain the scholarship, the recipient must meet the criteria every year up until graduation.

 

CRITERIA:

1.      1.      Recipient must be new student

2.      2.      Applicable to students entering 6th grade or above

3.      3.      Academics:  Must have at least a B average with no grade lower than B in any of the core subjects (Math, Science, Language, Social Studies) and no grade lower than C in other subjects

4.      4.      Excellence in other areas:  Student must excel in one or more of the following areas:

a.       a.       Community contributions

b.      b.      Athletics

c.       c.       Graphic and Performing Arts

5.      5.      Clean disciplinary record

 

 

Corporate Scholarships

The School continues to solicit specific scholarship funds for corporations in order to provide support to students who may not otherwise be able to attend Academia Cotopaxi.  The criteria for access to these funds may vary slightly with agreements reached with the donors, but the underlying philosophy is to be able to provide scholarship assistance that is funded from external sources, and not from school fees. (From section 2.83)

 

Recipient receives the scholarship for one school year.

 

CRITERIA

1.      1.      Recipient must be a new student who without the scholarship would not be able to attend AC

2.      2.      Applicable to students entering 9th grade or above

3.      3.      Academics: Must have at least a B average with no grade lower than B in any of the core subjects (Math, Science, Language, Social Studies) and no grade lower than C in other subjects

4.      4.      Clean disciplinary record

 

 

 

Performance Awards (Board Member Scholarships)

CRITERIA

1.      1.      Academics:  Must have at least a B average with no grade lower than B in any of the core subjects (Math, Science, Language, Social Studies) and no grade lower than C in other subjects

2.      2.      Excellence in other areas:  Student must excel in one or more of the following areas:

a.       a.       Community contributions – Global contributor?

b.      b.      Athletics

c.       c.       Graphic and Performing Arts

3.      3.      Clean disciplinary record

4.      4.      Student must be in 7th grade or above

5.      5.      Student must have attended AC for at least 5 years

6.      6.      Student must be “first-time” recipient of the award

 

We provide 100% scholarships to all employee children who can qualify for entrance and maintain themselves in good standing.  Foreign and local hires receive the same benefit and we have good school moral because of it and that affects the learning of every student.  Case closed.

 

 

Sorry, I can send no samples of scholarship documents, as at Seoul Foreign School we have chosen not to get into the scholarship business.  We provide free tuition for the children of our teachers, but we call this a faculty benefit and include the cost in the calculation of the personnel cost portion of the budget.  We have a VERY small amount of money that we provide to families who are going through temporary financial difficulties, but this is a touchy issue, and rather than a scholarship we call this "tuition assistance."  Unless one can evidence that these funds come from another source, effectively the provision of financial support for one student means that the other students' tuition is subsidizing this student.  Not always an easy sell for those parents who are struggling to make their children's tuition payments.  Each school culture is somewhat different, and you certainly know what works in Guatemala.  In Korea we find it prudent to minimize the amount of a student's tuition money that in no way benefits that student.

 

We give 100% scholarships to two children of our teaching staff, plus 50% to subsequent children up to 4.  We give no financial break to families with multiple children in the school.  We can allocate up to 5% of our total budget for other scholarship assistance, with categories for both merit and financial hardship.  

 

We are considering a merit-based scholarship for Ghanaian students (those who could never afford our tuition but are outstanding students) and would appreciate receiving any information you can gather. 

 

I am looking at implementing something similar to the model that was very successful at I.S. Tanganyika when I was the HS Principal there in the mid-90’s (I don’t know if the program still exists at the school).   The program focused on students in grades 11 and 12, going into the full IB diploma program.  Enough funds were allocated to support two full scholarships in each year, though in reality 3 or 4 students were usually supported in each grade because they were asked to contribute what they could.  It was extremely competitive, with several hundred candidates applying, and about a hundred being selected to write the entrance exams, based on their records and recommendations.  The tricky part was ensuring identity at exam-time, and also getting reasonably accurate information about family finances. 

 

 

We do not have any scholarship scheme. Reduction in fee is 5% per sibling.