Scholarship funders left in dark
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By Sheena Dooley | Friday, December 08, 2006 |
A Long Grove, Iowa, couple waited almost three years to find out what happened to the more than $2,700 they gave to Scott Community College to set up a scholarship in their late son’s name.
Those answers finally came this week when James and Laura Huffman received a letter from Thomas Coley, the college’s president, in which he apologized for what college officials described as a miscommunication and informed the couple that the first scholarship recipient was selected in the spring.
“It’s just one of those things that fell between the seams,” said Alan Campbell, spokesman for the Eastern Iowa Community College District, which includes Scott Community College.
The Huffmans used donations given to them after their son, Gregory Huffman, died in an ATV accident during 2003 to establish an annual $250 scholarship for a second-year student in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning program at Scott. Their son graduated from the program in 1996.
They worked with officials from the Scott Community College Foundation, who assured them they would begin granting the scholarship during the fall 2005 semester. The Huffmans said they were told they would receive a letter letting them know who it was once a recipient was chosen.
However, the couple only received that letter recently, after a Quad-City Times reporter contacted the college about the matter. Lora Huffman said she had called the foundation at least three times in the past two years, asking why they had not been given any notification. Each time, they were told the scholarship had not been awarded because someone new was overseeing the program and was running behind schedule. During the spring of 2006, Huffman said she gave up trying to get answers.
“It’s like they don’t care,” she said. “They got the money and you can’t get it back. When you are going to school it’s, ‘You have your money in or else.’ Why can’t they have the same consideration?”
The scholarship money was not awarded in 2005 because none of the students who applied were qualified, Campbell said. Under the guidelines that school officials and the Huffmans created, students must have 34 credit hours in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning program, be in good academic standing and maintain at least a C average in order to apply.
About 40 students enrolled in the program at Scott this year, he said. Almost 230 students from the school applied for scholarships this year. Few of those students specify the grants they want, so the selection committee sifts through the applicants, matching them with the most appropriate scholarship.
In the spring, the scholarship selection committee, comprised of faculty and staff from the school and several community members, found a qualified candidate and awarded the money for the first time, he said. The student received the first of two installments this fall, but the Huffmans still did not get a letter notifying them, which typically is done immediately after the school chooses a recipient.
“It just didn’t get sent out,” he said. “It’s a misunderstanding.”
Campbell blamed the lack of communication between the college and the Huffmans on turnover in the foundation office. A new director and secretary took over in the fall of 2005 and this summer, respectively. Those are the only positions in that office, he added.
“It really boils down to we are going through changes,” he said. “It’s not that we didn’t have a handle on things because we did.”
Sheena Dooley can be contacted at (563) 383-2363 or sdooley@qctimes.com.
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