LGFCU

By Joyce Moed, Reporter

RALEIGH, N.C.–For the past 11 years, Local Government Federal Credit Union has awarded scholarships to graduating high school seniors and post-secondary students to advance their education at the university, community or technical college of their choice.

LGFCU was selected as best practice winner for its scholarship program by the Credit Union Journal.

For the first 10 years of the CU’s scholarship program, LGFCU awarded 16 annual scholarships ranging from $500 to $1,500 to be applied toward tuition. However in the program’s 11th year, the program was revamped with the goal of helping more students, in a different way. In July 2008, the CU made a commitment to invest an additional $100,000 in its scholarship program–bringing the total amount of money available to $120,000. This means that 120 students now receive help with scholarship expenses–to be used for laptops and textbooks. LGFCU’s leadership believes that while the $500 to $1,500 awarded with the previous program may have gone a little ways toward helping 16 students with tuition, the new program will pay for most–if not all–for something in full.

“We found it necessary to revamp the programs to help more LGFCU members pay for something in full,” said Janie Bright, education services manager.

In the first year of the new program, 62 students chose the textbook option, with 58 choosing laptops. To ensure the money for textbooks is used for its intended purpose, $1,000 checks are sent to each student’s school to be applied as a credit at the student bookstore. Students who choose the laptop option receive Dell laptops. LGFCU was able to reach a deal with Dell to purchase the laptops at a discounted price.

The winners, which are selected by a committee of the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation, are announced each year in May.

LGFCU also demonstrated its commitment to strengthen the skills of North Carolina local government employees by increasing the amount of money awarded through the School of Government Scholarship (SOG) from $10,000 to nearly $60,000 in 2008. The awards, given out three times a year, can be applied toward conferences, classes and seminars offered by the SOG at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Because of the funding increase in this program, LGFCU was able to nearly double the number people it helped from 2007 to 2008 from 24 to 47.

For 2009, LGFCU made a commitment to invest more than $170,000 in its scholarship programs.

“This level of commitment means that 120 students can choose to receive help with college expenses in the form of $1,000 toward laptops or textbooks,” Bright said.

“LGFCU awarded 120 scholarships to graduating high school seniors and post-secondary students to advance their education at the university, community or technical college of their choice. We believe $1,000 is a great way to help students pay for a laptop or textbooks. LGFCU is proud to have helped approximately 280 students with the LGFCU Scholarship Program over the past 11 years.”

For other CUs looking to emulate this best practice, Bright suggests starting out small and studying member trends “to see how you can best apply what you have to offer to support your membership's best interests. Also, make sure you have very defined processes in place and that they are adhered to, to help address any conflicts or questions that may arise. Additionally, as in the case with our laptop and textbook program, to ensure the money for textbooks is used for its intended purpose, we send the $1,000 check to each student’s school. To gain better value for scholarship recipients, LGFCU negotiated a deal with a computer manufacturer to purchase the laptops at a discounted price.”