Students will be eligible to begin receiving SGA Endowed Scholarships as early as fall 2015.

The scholarship fund will exceed the $25,000 required start-up balance and reach an estimated $40,000 when a contribution from Vice President of Student Affairs David Shields is added to the account, said SGA President Laura Giles.

The contribution will come from a leadership endowment scholarship discovered within the division of Student Affairs early in the year, Shields said.

“I didn’t know we had it, so we just kind of put it away,” Shields said. “About five or six weeks ago when I sat down with Laura, we were discussing the endowed scholarship and it triggered in my mind, wait a minute, we’ve got this other scholarship, so I said how about we combine the two.”

The combining of the two funds will utilize the money for its intended purpose and allow students to begin receiving scholarships sooner, he said

“I was thrilled because now the money was going to be used as it was supposed to be used for leadership scholarships,” he said.

The student body at UNA has always looked for ways to improve the life of students in the future, said University President William Cale.

“In the 9 and a half years I’ve been here, I have been so extraordinarily proud of the student body at UNA, how they (observe) the issues that the campus faces and respond affirmatively to whatever those issues are,” Cale said. “The endowed scholarship is the most recent example of the students recognizing the importance — with the rising tuition and reduced state funding — of providing assistance to future students. I think it’s phenomenal.”

Because endowed scholarships are funded by placing money in an account where it can draw interest, the number of scholarships awarded and the amount given will depend on the amount of interest incurred by the fund, said Director of Endowed Scholarships Melissa Pettus. 

The criteria for scholarship recipients to meet are currently being mapped out, Giles said. 

“We are in the planning phase,” she said. “Since we finished the scholarship earlier than we expected, we can use this time to get it structured because we still need an application process and people who are going to choose the recipients.”

As a starting point for recipient requirements, applicants must be returning sophomores, juniors or seniors with a 3.0 GPA, who are involved in at least two organizations on campus, although final details have not been determined, she said.  

The selection committee will probably be formed within SGA and would ideally consist of a group of students under the leadership of faculty or staff advisers, Giles said. 

SGA began raising money to fund the endowed scholarship in 2010 with a requirement of raising $25,000 within five years, said SGA Treasurer Elizabeth Tyson. 

Events like the Annual SGA Fountain 5K have contributed to the fund, Tyson said. 

“Even though we have reached our goal of $25,000 earlier than we expected, we aren’t going to stop raising money for the scholarship,” she said. “I’m going to encourage SGA to keep putting money toward it even after my term as treasurer is over.”

The more money the fund accumulates, the more students will benefit from the hard work SGA has done so far, she said. 

“I was so excited when Laura was able to announce the scholarship was finished,” she said. “It put a smile on our faces to know that we are students helping students pay for college, when they may not have been able to afford it otherwise.”

SGA is not only raising money for scholarships that will help further students’ education, but also helping relieve stress the average college student faces, said Lauren Springer, a junior. 

“SGA is helping to give back to their fellow classmates,” Springer said. 

Editor’s note: To read an editorial on the importance of SGA, click here.