Give to higher ed on Nov. 24:
Special offering benefits local college students
by Annette Bender & Pamela Crosby
While 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, Holston Conference has two students in school currently receiving denominational scholarships.
Asa Lee Hendrickson, 17, and C. Harrison, 18, freshmen at Emory & Henry College, received scholarship awards based on need. Hendrickson, a member at First Pearisburg United Methodist Church in Tazewell District, received a $1,000 United Methodist Foundation Scholarship.
Harrison, a member at First Rogersville UMC in Kingsport District, was awarded an $856 Holston Conference merit scholarship. When United Methodist Student Day occurs on Nov. 24, Holston leaders hope you'll keep Hendrickson and Harrison in mind. Because small offerings coupled with the effects of the economic downturn could keep prospective students from receiving aid in 2003.
In 2000, United Methodist Student Day garnered a conference- wide offering of $4,788. In 2001, Holston's 930 churches gave a total of $5,857 to the student offering, according to the conference's financial office.
"We're not getting good participation in the conference," said Evan Sweetser, former chair of the conference Scholarship Committee. "I know that to be true because I have to badger my own church to give."
Across the denomination, more than $8.4 million was awarded to 5,500 students in 2001 through the United Methodist loan fund and scholarship program. However, 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.
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.
The conference-wide offering on Nov. 24 not only feeds into the denominational pool for scholarships like Hendrickson's. The conference also receives a 10 percent rebate of the total Student Day offering, which is used for a Holston-based scholarship like Harrison's.
In 2001, the rebate from the 2000 offering was less than $500. Holston's Board of Higher Education and Ministry decided not to award a Holston Conference scholarship, but to wait for the following year's rebate in order to make a substantial award, according to Sweetser.
Harrison, son of the Rev. Charles Harrison, is majoring in political science. In an interview from his Emory & Henry dorm room, he said he is interested in pursuing a pre-law degree. Harrison's sister, now studying nursing at Walters State Community College, received a Holston Conference scholarship as an Emory & Henry student in 2000, he said.
Hendrickson hasn't declared a major, but said she hopes to study psychology. "I like to listen to people. I want to help adolescents, maybe as a psychologist," she said.
Both Harrison and Hendrickson expressed appreciation for the scholarships. "All three of us – my parents and me – are very thankful," Hendrickson said.
"A scholarship is a protest against ignorance," said the Rev. Jerome King Del Pino, top executive with the denomination's Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
United Methodist students or parents wishing to apply for 2003 fall scholarships should contact the Scholarship Committee's current chair, David Craig, at 2943 W. Gallaher Ferry Road, Knoxville, TN 37932, phone (865) 693-3173, or email dcraig@utk.edu. Scholarship applications will be available in early 2003.
To contribute to United Methodist Student Day, make checks to your local church or Holston Conference, designating "U.M. Student Day" on the memo line. Drop in your church offering plate or mail to: Holston Conference, P.O. Box 2506, Johnson City, TN 37605.
United Methodist Student Day is one of six denomination- wide "special Sundays." The others are Human Relations Day (January), One Great Hour of Sharing (March), Native American Ministries Sunday (May), Peace with Justice Sunday (June), and World Communion Day (October).
Bender is editor of The Call. 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 contributed to this report.
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