Nov. 5 , 2007

Tuition Assistance for 6,200 Students

More than 6,200 students now attending parish elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens are receiving tuition assistance totaling $6,115,550 from scholarship programs administered by the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio announced the figures at the annual Bishop’s Scholarship Awards ceremony for students and their families, principals and pastors, held Oct. 16 at the Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston.

Calling the ceremony an opportunity to “celebrate generosity, hard work and collaboration,” the Bishop said that when schools and families work together, they “sustain and guide our youth so that they may have the building blocks for a strong future."

The scholarship grants, averaging about $1,000 each, are a boon to families finding it difficult to meet annual tuition costs, which average $3,400 across the Diocese, said Thomas F. Flood, executive director of the diocesan Stewardship and Development Office.

Several sources within and outside of the Diocese provided the major portion of the scholarship monies, most notably the diocesan Futures in Education and Alive in Hope Foundations and Annual Catholic Appeal and the national Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF), he said. CSF helps low-income families send their children to non-public schools.

In addition, the “Be an Angel to a Student” program, conducted by the Futures in Education Foundation, made available $617,400 in scholarships for 441 students. Before the school year began, 243 individuals contributed $1,400 toward a year’s tuition for one student. Some sponsored more than one child.

The awards ceremony opened with Msgr. Michael J. Hardiman, the Vicar for Education, quickly gathering a group of youngsters in the audience for an impromptu, spirited singing of “God Bless America.”

Msgr. John J. Bracken, chairman of the Alive in Hope Foundation, and Charles McQuade, who heads the Futures in Education advisory board, spoke of the generosity of donors who made the scholarship monies available to the students.

In his remarks, Msgr. Bracken noted that 56 endowment funds are incorporated within the Alive in Hope Foundation and said 47 assist Catholic education. The most recent endowment honors the memory of the late Msgr. Neil Mahoney, whom he called a “staunch supporter” of Catholic education. He died June 15.

Mr. McQuade said that the Bishop’s Scholarship Program, launched two years ago, presented grants to 1,800 students, an increase of a thousand over last year.

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11/5/07