When my daughter was in the sixth grade she asked me to sign a contract that I knew I couldn’t honor. Kristin came home from school, sat me down, and asked for my financial and emotional support to attend college. Even back then, she had high goals for herself—she wanted to be an astronaut. We figured that by the time she was college age, her education would cost $100,000 to attend the schools she wanted. My head said I couldn’t afford it, but my heart wanted to give it to her. I signed. And I have panicked ever since. She has changed her major and hasn’t attended the school she initially dreamed of, but that hasn’t reduced the cost any. The medical field costs as much as space travel. She is doing fine, paying for most of it herself, and has held down a very successful full-time career since she started college four years ago. But all that will end someday when she has to focus on internships and a doctorate. Had I realized when she was born that life would be as expensive twenty years later as the experts were predicting, I would have saved 75% of my earnings for her education or applied for every scholarship available.
JCU awards seven scholarships every year to members with active accounts. An $800 and three $400 awards are given to any child between birth and high school graduation. For every deposit made in the child’s account within the last year, a ticket is automatically placed in the barrel. The more deposits made to the account, the better chance your child has to be presented one of these scholarships.
Three other scholarships are presented that require a written application. The Memorial scholarship is $1,000 and two Continuing Education scholarships are awarded for $500 each. Call the credit union for details. Don’t wait, in twenty years, it’ll cost $200,000 for that degree.
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