Miller Foundation Challenges Oregonians to Increase Support for Community College Students

Supporters of students at Oregon’s 17 community colleges have been challenged to increase their giving to scholarship funds next year, thanks to a challenge grant from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation.

If each college’s supporters can meet the challenge, it would result in hundreds of additional scholarships for some of the most financially strapped students throughout Oregon.

“We feel community colleges are a vital part of Oregon’s educational system and economy,” said Chuck Putney, president of the Miller Foundation board.  “Frequently, the opportunity to attend a community college is the pathway to a living wage and a secure family. However, attendance at these colleges is a financial challenge for many students.”

“The Miller Foundation has given each college and its community a tremendous challenge and opportunity,” said Greg Hamann, President of Clatsop Community College.   “On top of its recent grant of $250,000 for our Jerome Campus Renovation Project, the Miller Foundation has proven to be a generous friend of Oregon’s community college students.”

The Miller Foundation – an independent, private organization established to enhance the quality of life of Oregonians through support of the arts and education – has offered to donate a total of $1.5 million in scholarship funds to the 17 community college, in varying amounts depending on enrollments. The challenges range from $50,000 for the 10 smallest community colleges, including Clatsop Community College, up to $320,000 for Portland Community College, the state’s largest community college

To qualify for the grant, each college’s foundation will have to raise an equal amount in new scholarship funds – atop the amounts they raised between April 2007 and March 2008 for scholarships.

 “A challenge grant like this is really terrific,” says Nadine Faith, Executive Director of Clatsop Community College Foundation.  “It means that for every new scholarship dollar an individual or business in our community contributes to help our students, Miller Foundation will match it with a scholarship donation of its own . . . effectively doubling a local donor’s impact on student opportunity.”

 To be eligible for the Miller Foundation scholarship, a student must be seeking an associate’s degree, a certificate or a professional license; the funds are not available for those in non-credit courses, a GED program, a high school diploma program, or students taking courses not designed to meet a degree, certificate or license.

 For more information on availability and how to apply for scholarships and other financial aid, contact the CCC Financial Aid Office at  (503) 338-2322 .

 For information on how to make a donation to meet CCC’s matching funds goal for the Miller Foundation grant, contact the CCC Foundation at  (503) 338-2306 .