Chancellor delivers more than $40,000 in scholarship funds to PBSC
Randy Hanna, chancellor of the Florida College System, visited Palm State College today, but he didn’t come empty-handed. He came with checks.
Hanna delivered three checks totaling $40,067 for scholarships aimed at relieving the nursing shortage and helping students who are the first in their family to attend college. The money is part of more than $900,000 in scholarship funds that the Florida College System Foundation will award this year to the 28 colleges in the FCS.
The scholarship funds were made possible through endowed gifts the FCS Foundation received several years ago from Bank of America for nursing and allied health students and from Florida Blue and the Helios Education Foundation for first-generation college students.
“It reflects, in my opinion, what’s at the heart of the Florida College System: providing access for students and educating Florida’s workforce,” said Hanna. “Palm Beach State College has a long history of providing financial aid and scholarships for students being the first public junior college in the state. The people of this area have always understood the importance of access to higher education, and these funds will help additional students. It is our hope to continue to grow our state foundation and in future years provide additional funds for Palm Beach State College.”
Suellen Mann, executive director of the Palm Beach State College Foundation, said the contributions are appreciated and will be added to the Foundation’s total scholarship awards that will be distributed to PBSC students for the 2014-2015 academic year.
“It’s always rewarding knowing that the beneficiaries of this generosity are the students, many of whom without this funding simply would not be able to attend school.”
Last academic year, the PBSC Foundation awarded a total of $1.2 million to 2,300 students. This year, more than 2,000 students applied for scholarships. The application deadline was Aug. 29.
