Scholarships

An endowed scholarship is an enduring gift that will last in perpetuity.  An endowment may be established with a minimum gift contribution of $10,000. The donor will work with the TCC Foundation staff to name the scholarship and develop appropriate awarding criteria. The TCC Foundation is proud of the manner in which our Board stewards our endowments. Endowed funds are invested by a consultant and are reviewed by the Finance and Investment Committee of the Board on a regular basis.

Estimated annual award amounts for endowed scholarships:

• $10,000 endowment - $400 annual award
• $25,000 endowment - $1,000 annual award
• $50,000 endowment - $2,000 annual award
• $100,000 endowment - $4,000 annual award

A non-endowed scholarship can be established with a gift contribution minimum of $1,000 per year for a three-year period of time.  The scholarship funds will be awarded the year following the final contribution gift.  Sustaining a non-endowed scholarship requires continued giving over time.

If you would like to make contributions to student scholarships but prefer not to establish a named scholarship, you can do so by giving to the Foundation Opportunity Scholarship. This fund is an unrestricted general scholarship that allows the criteria for awarding to be determined annually based on current student needs at the time awarding occurs.

Once you have decided to establish either a non-endowed or endowed scholarship at the TCC Foundation the next step will be to work with the Scholarship Officer on naming and establishing eligibility criteria and awarding guidelines.

With both non-endowed and endowed scholarships, donors will work with the TCC Foundation staff to name their scholarships and establish appropriate awarding criteria. In order to take part in establishing recipient awarding criteria, donors must meet the minimum non-endowed contribution amount of $1,000 annually for 3 years. Scholarship contributions less than this will be applied to the Foundation Opportunity Scholarship and awarded by the TCC Foundation Scholarship Committee as deemed appropriate.

 Award amounts and the number of recipients to award are determined in several ways. Both non-endowed and endowed scholarships can be established with criteria that state a specific award amount and/or a specific number of recipients to award. Scholarship agreements with this type of stated criteria will be awarded as such as long as the funds are available. At the onset of each academic year, the Foundation staff meets to evaluate current student needs and academic progressions for which the basis of scholarship awarding goals are set and award amounts are determined for the year.

Non-Endowed Awards

Non-endowed scholarship funds will be awarded the year following the final gift contribution. Individual non-endowed scholarship award amounts are determined based on the fund balance of the account as well as taking into consideration the contribution activity to the scholarship so as not to deplete the funds if being actively awarded.

Endowed Awards

Endowed earnings will be awarded for the fall semester of the calendar after the year the scholarship was established. Depending on the size of the endowment and the earnings it generates, awarding of these earnings may be delayed in order to allow the endowment to grow. Individual endowed scholarship award amounts are determined based on only awarding the earnings of the endowment available for the academic year. The earnings amount is calculated by awarding 4% of the 5-year moving average of the value of the fund during the fiscal year.

*If the fund does not reach full endowment by the date and amount stated on the signed agreement, the TCC Foundation will have the right to elect to award the principal balance and any accumulated growth earnings for the intended purpose of the scholarship until the funds are fully spent. The TCC Foundation will make its best efforts to contact the donor/party who established the scholarship before this process occurs.

Contributions to your scholarship can be made online at the TCC Foundation Donation page of the website or by mail.

Contributions for scholarships that are endowed will be applied to the fund corpus balance which will assist to increase earnings and annual scholarship award amounts over time. Contributions for scholarships that are not endowed, will be applied directly to the fund balance available for immediate awarding.

*The TCC Foundation administers a 3% gift fee on all contributions received. The purpose of this gift fee is to assist in the administrative processing of donations.

Contributions made to the TCC Foundation are tax deductible. The TCC Foundation is a non-profit organization designated by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. You will be provided a letter of gift receipt for each contribution made.

Accepting a scholarship requires the awarded recipient to write a thank you letter to their scholarship donor in order to receive the award. Once a recipient has been selected for a scholarship, the donor will receive a thank you letter by mail. Donor thank you letters from recipients awarded Fall semester scholarships will be mailed in mid-August. Letters from recipients awarded Spring scholarships will be mailed in mid-October. 

As a donor, you will be invited to a TCC Foundation annual scholarship event for the opportunity to meet your recipient(s) along with other recipients of TCC Foundation and TCC scholarships.

The TCC Foundation strives each year to make the best attempt to connect scholarship donors and recipients by hosting a General Scholarship Luncheon on TCC's main campus and a Donuts with Donors event for Healthcare recipients at the Ghazvini Healthcare Center for Education.

We appreciate your understanding that due to the numerous amount of people involved with scholarship awarding who all have different school, work, and personal schedules, it may not always be possible for a donor and/or a recipient to meet one another at the time each of these events has been scheduled.