Changing Lives - CLC Foundation

Jim Fransen hosted Beverly Hubbard as our guest and speaker for the Jun 10th meeting of the Grayslake Rotary Club.  Beverly is the Development Officer for the College of Lake County Foundation, which was established in 1974 as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt charity. The Foundation raises funds for scholarships and to meet other institutional needs.  The CLC Foundation is dedicated to helping students through its scholarship awards program. Last year alone, the Foundation made 857 individual scholarship awards, totaling about $500,000.

Beverly Hubbard discusses CLC Foundation with the Grayslake Rotary Club

The CLC Foundation has launched the Changing Lives scholarship campaign to raise funds to provide tuition assistance to CLC students.  Why is the Foundation seeking donations to support CLC scholarships?

Because, today, access to college is essential. It used to be that a high school diploma was all that was needed to support a middle class lifestyle. Not so today. Without completing at least some college, today’s young people won’t have the higher-level skills they will need to move much beyond minimum wage jobs. And even in tough economic times, the benefits of college remain true. The more education you have, the more you will likely earn and the less likely you will be to become unemployed.

Because many students can’t even afford CLC’s lower-cost tuition. Though about one in four of CLC students receives some form of financial aid, often it is not enough. On average, financial aid and family support runs short of meeting students’ basic living expenses by about $2,300 per year. For the poorest of financial aid students, staying in school is a constant financial battle. In a district with a median household income of nearly $80,000, these students have an annual family income of under $23,000.

Because educated minds are our greatest resource. Access to college isn’t just important to individual lives. It’s also essential to the vitality of our local community and economy. CLC graduates, for example, generate millions of dollars in local, state and federal tax revenues, and they support schools, businesses and other vital community services. And CLC graduates comprise a skilled local workforce—an essential asset for employers in a global economy in which human capital is the competitive edge.

Because at CLC your donation can go so far.  Because tuition at the College of Lake County is so much lower than at a university, your donation can have a wider reach, helping more students. Think about it this way: one or several donations totaling $10,000 can pay for the annual tuition of three students at CLC. At a public university, that amount would support just one student!

For more information about the CLC Foundation or the Changing Lives scholarship campaign, see the Changing Lives website.