wfn.org | Money for loans, scholarship funds will drop in 2003

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 5, 2002  News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.	10-71B{505}

NOTE: Photographs are available with this story.

By Pamela Crosby*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Many applicants for a loan or scholarship from the
United Methodist Church had to be turned away this year due to a lack of
funds, according to a denomination executive.

More than $8.4 million was awarded to 5,500 students in 2001 through the
United Methodist loan fund and scholarship program. That figure will drop
considerably in the immediate future due to a major reduction of reserve
funds and the volatility of the financial markets, said Angella
Current-Felder, top executive with the denomination's Office of Loans and
Scholarships.

The report was made at a dinner for scholarship recipients sponsored by the
Office of Loans and Scholarships during the Board of Higher Education and
Ministry's annual directors meeting, held Oct. 16-19 in Nashville.

During the past three years, an average of 1,100 students received loans
annually through the United Methodist Student Day Offering. 

"We project that unless the United Methodist Student Day Offering increases,
this number will drop to an average of 760 student loans per year,"
Current-Felder said.

Current-Felder is encouraging United Methodist congregations to challenge
the odds by increasing their collective giving through the Student Day
Offering, "so that by the end of the quadrennium, we would have achieved the
goal of $1 million a year."
 
She also reported that in 2001, congregational support of United Methodist
Student Day exceeded average giving, and annual conferences received more in
rebated funds than ever before. The Gift of Hope Scholars Program has
provided scholarships for more than 4,000 students during the past four
years. 

"A scholarship is a protest against ignorance," said the Rev. Jerome King
Del Pino, top executive with the board. 

"The support I receive, financially and spiritually, gives me a renewed
sense of commitment because I know people believe in me," said Jamie North,
a Meharry Medical College student who was the keynote speaker at the dinner.
United Methodist-related Meharry is in Nashville.

Other scholarship recipients at the dinner were April J. Albin, Belmont
University; Alliciah Bell, Middle Tennessee State University; Robert Cox,
Vanderbilt University; Laura Forrester, MTSU; Jeffrey Gibbs and Russell
Hale, both attending Martin Methodist College; Danielle Hayes, Tennessee
State University; Royya James, MTSU; and Sarah Sewell and Bethany Thomas,
both attending Belmont University.

# # #

*Crosby is assistant editor and writer in the Office of Interpretation at
the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville,
Tenn.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org