WEST DES MOINES — Registration is open for a scholarship that offers Iowa high school seniors a chance to receive $2,000 for college while learning important financial literacy skills. In addition, each recipient’s high school will receive a corresponding $500 award.
High school seniors may register for the Iowa Financial Know-How Challenge: Senior Scholarship at www.IowaStudentLoan.org/SeniorScholarship between now and March 4. Iowa Student Loan will award $2,000 scholarships to 30 students who complete two online financial literacy tutorials and score highest on a related assessment. Registered students also receive emails highlighting financial literacy tips, such as the importance of early career and college planning and ways to reduce student loan indebtedness.
After registering for the scholarship, students receive emailed instructions for completing the three online components. Two tutorials — the newly revised Student Loan Game Plans and the ROCI Reality Check — were developed by Iowa Student Loan to help students understand the consequences of college borrowing and discover how to maximize their return on college investment, or ROCI.
A related multiple-choice assessment will check students’ understanding of the concepts in the tutorials. The 30 high school seniors who score highest on the assessment test will each receive a $2,000 scholarship that will be sent directly to their colleges in fall 2016. If top-scoring students tie, those students will be asked to write and be judged on a short essay so winners can be determined.
Each scholarship recipient’s high school will also receive a corresponding $500 award to be used toward scholarship and financial literacy programs.
“We feel it’s very important to help today’s high school students, and their families, better understand college debt and ways to lower the amount they may need to borrow,” said Christine Hensley, chair of the Iowa Student Loan board. “This scholarship program creates an incentive for those students to experience our tools and learn the steps they can take now and later to improve their financial situation.”
“We have been pleased with the feedback we’ve received from previous participants,” Hensley said. “With nearly 5,000 participating students from across the state, and 40 recipients from 33 high schools, represented over the past two years, we are confident these tools and scholarships are helping Iowa’s families.”
The Iowa Financial Know-How Challenge: Senior Scholarship is open to legal U.S. citizens who are permanent residents of Iowa; are seniors at an Iowa high school during the 2015–16 school year; and attend college in fall 2016. It is a no-purchase-required program, and full rules and details are available at www.IowaStudentLoan.org/SeniorScholarship.
Students, parents and educators who are interested in learning more about the Iowa Financial Know-How Challenge: Senior Scholarship should visit www.IowaStudentLoan.org or email scholarship@studentloan.org.