BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Polish & Slavic FCU handed out $350,000 in grants to more than 315 students, ranging in age from high school to post-graduate level.
The nation’s largest ethnic credit union boosted the scholarship funding this year by $50,000 and the number of recipients by 79, or 25%. As the scholarship program has grown, so too has its geographic reach. The credit union’s scholarship program expanded beyond New York, as it awarded grants to students in Chicago and a dozen other cities outside its home region.
The scholarships were awarded during two separate ceremonies – in late May for high school graduates and three weeks later for college students. Prior to these events, the credit union funded a stay for 20 gifted students at a science camp at the Copernicus Observatory at Vestal, N.Y.
As the credit union handed scholarship checks to college students, it also inaugurated a new program of financial support for the Kosciuszko Chair at the Institute of World Politics of Washington D.C., presenting a $10,000 donation to the Institute’s founder, Professor John Lenczowski. It also designated a special $5,000 scholarship to be awarded to a student who will be admitted to study at the Institute next year.
The $1.2 billion credit union has one of the most ambitious scholarship programs among the country’s credit unions. Since its inception in 2001, its scholarship fund has helped defray the cost of college for more than 1,100 students, as it has handed out $1.8 million in grants.
