Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation
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The Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that provides academic scholarships to children of United States Marines, with particular attention given to children whose parent was killed or wounded in action. This funding is provided by private supporters including individuals, corporations, and other nonprofit foundations. The organization's slogan is "Honoring Marines by Educating Their Children(TM)."
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[edit] Work
Since the organization’s founding in 1962, they have provided over 22,000 scholarships valued at over $38 million, with awards ranging in value from $1000 to $10,000. The Foundation announced in April 2008 that it will award a record 1,250 scholarships to the children of U.S. Marines for the 2008-2009 academic year. This new figure represents a 25% increase in the number of scholarships given in the previous year.
These scholarship programs provide opportunities for students that cannot afford the full cost of higher education, while increasing their chances for success in their personal and professional lives.
The new levels of scholarships for 2008-2009 amount to more than $4,375,000 in awards as compared to $3,491,000 in 2007. The scholarships have increased a total of 182% since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom (2002-2003 academic year). The average scholarship award is $3,500.
The Foundation's scholarships are primarily needs-based. Besides requiring applicants to be a child of a Marine or a child of a former Marine, the scholarship eligibility criteria includes a maximum family income equal to the payscale of a sergeant major, which in 2006 was $65,000. The average household income of 2007 scholarship recipients was under $41,000. The Foundation cites the mounting toll of the War on Terror, the rising costs of education, and the maturation of a new generation of Marines as an urgent call for increasing support.
To meet the current and future needs of educating these children, the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation launched an aggressive and comprehensive capital drive, “The American Patriots Campaign.” Concluding on the 50th anniversary of the Foundation in 2012, this drive will raise $50 million in funds over the next five years. This increase in capital is intended to allow the organization to nearly double the average scholarship award, provide special scholarships to the children of parents killed in the Global War on Terror, and develop a sustainable, diversified base of support to increase their scholarship capacity for the next generation of Marine families.
[edit] Origin
The Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation began by helping one child. In 1962, a brigadier general, Martin F. Rockmore, and other retired Marine reservists in New York City learned that a Marine World War II Medal of Honor recipient could not afford to send his child to college. Concerned, General Rockmore and his peers organized a charity ball that December and raised $1,500 (1962 dollars). The annual charity ball, known as the Leatherneck Ball, continues to this day. The original event has inspired numerous balls, galas, golf tournaments, and other fundraisers across the country.
[edit] Special Commitments
The Foundation has made special commitments to the sons and daughters of Marines and Navy Corpsmen, and in other special circumstances, to the children of all American servicemen and women, whose parent is killed in combat.
After the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983, the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation awarded a total of $1.1 million in education bonds to the child of every American serviceman killed in this tragedy, constituting 3 children from the Army, 80 children from the Marines, and 19 children from the Navy. Again, after Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the Foundation awarded $2.5 million in education bonds, to the child of every American serviceman and woman killed in this war. Included were 37 children from the Air Force, 131 children from the Army, 66 children from the Marines, and 17 children from the Navy.
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Foundation committed to provide Heroes Tribute Scholarships, totaling up to $30,000 over four years, to every child of a Marine or Navy Corpsman serving with the Marines, whose parent is killed in combat in the Global War on Terror.
[edit] Location
The Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation is located in Alexandria, Virginia and has its scholarship and finance offices in Princeton, New Jersey.
[edit] External links
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