HispanicBusiness

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- USA Funds(R), the nation's leading education loan guarantor, has announced that it provided a total of more than $15 million to support programs that helped Americans pursue higher education during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2008. USA Funds supported a variety of scholarship and outreach programs designed to help students and families prepare for, pay for and succeed in higher education.

USA Funds Scholarship Program. USA Funds Access to Education Scholarships(R) awarded nearly $8 million to help more than 5,300 low- to moderate-income students pay college expenses for the 2008-2009 academic year.

Minority-Focused Scholarship Organizations. USA Funds awarded $400,000 to five national scholarship organizations that promote access to higher education for minority students. USA Funds awarded funds to the American Indian College Fund, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the United Negro College Fund, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund. In addition, USA Funds provided funding and staff support for fundraising events that helped these organizations and the U.S. Dream Academy raise an additional $5.1 million to support scholarships and other education access programs.

College Goal Sunday. USA Funds is a major funder of College Goal Sunday events in Arizona, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland and Wyoming. College Goal Sunday offers students and parents free assistance in completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. In conjunction with College Goal Sunday, USA Funds published and distributed through major newspapers or directly to high schools USA Funds Countdown to College(TM) supplements, featuring financial aid and college admissions advice.

Early Awareness. During the year more than 500 sets of USA Funds Unlock the Future(R) and USA Funds Consejos materials were distributed to schools, community agencies and faith-based organizations to advise middle school students and their parents of the benefits of higher education and to encourage them to make training or education after high school a part of their future plans. USA Funds Unlock the Future is an early awareness program designed to inform students and their families about the value of a postsecondary education. USA Funds Consejos is a similar program geared to Latino students and their families.

Enhancing Academic Success of African-American Males. Research disclosed that only 38 percent of African-American men graduate from high school in Indiana. USA Funds has designed an initiative to help increase academic achievement among African-American males in central Indiana. USA Funds has awarded more than $100,000 to this initiative.

Learning Communities Coalition. In partnership with Scholarship America, USA Funds spearheads a coalition committed to improving postsecondary access for low-income students in five communities. The Learning Communities Coalition is targeting communities in Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi and Washington, D.C.

Symposium for Minority-Serving Institutions. For seven consecutive years, USA Funds either has hosted or supported a symposium that brings together administrators from minority-serving institutions to discuss and develop action plans for enhancing student retention and success. More than 160 faculty and administrators participated in the most recent symposium, "Pursuing Excellence in Student Preparations, Access and Success."

State Programs. USA Funds focuses much of its support on initiatives that enhance higher education access in the eight states - Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada and Wyoming - that it serves as designated guarantor under the Federal Family Education Loan Program. These programs included college planning publications, hotlines and Web sites; college tours; college fairs; best practices conferences; admissions test preparation; mentoring programs; student enrollment and retention projects; as well as mobile classrooms that help hospitalized students keep up with their studies.

"Consistent with USA Funds' nonprofit mission to enhance higher education preparedness, access and success, we are pleased to partner with agencies and other nonprofits to increase access to and success in postsecondary education," said Carl C. Dalstrom, USA Funds president and CEO. "Our goal is to ensure that every deserving student has the opportunity to benefit from postsecondary education."

Headquartered in Indianapolis, USA Funds is a nonprofit corporation that works to enhance postsecondary education preparedness, access and success by providing and supporting financial and other valued services. For more information about USA Funds, visit http://www.usafunds.org/. USA Funds

Web site: http://www.usafunds.org/