Recession hampers some scholarships

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Some endowed scholarships through the Indiana State University Foundation will not be funded in the 2013-2014 academic year.

Officials with the foundation said Friday the recession beginning in 2008 reduced the amount of money flowing into some funds from investments.

“When the market dipped in 2008 … it had an impact on our endowment,” said Catherine Saunders, the foundation’s Executive Vice President of Advancement. “At that time it was a priority for us to continue funding scholarships and providing those dollars to the university at the same rate that we were doing.”

To help recoup some of those funds, Saunders said the foundation is putting a hold on some of those funds for the coming school year. In all, she said, that will affect about 30 percent of the 700 funds in the endowment.

“What we are saying is the growth of our endowment is a priority, and in order to ensure that those scholarship funds are going to be available for generations to come, we’re saying we need to do a hold right now and allow those earnings” to grow, Saunders said.

Saunders pointed out that the hold does not affect scholarships given by the university or annually-funded scholarships. She also said university officials and private donors have chipped in to help fund some scholarships.