Funding Our Future

Learning how to live a healthy, financially sound life takes practice and like anything else, the earlier you start, the easier it will be. As the children of our community grow older, we realize that these young adults will soon be entering the workforce and becoming the future of our city. And so, in an effort to influence their perspective of the way our society spends money, EPEFCU has begun a variety of programs dedicated toward helping the young adults in our community learn to successfully manage their finances.

Our semi-annual writing contest is a recent addition to the long list of scholarships our credit union currently makes available to the students of our community. The contest is meant not only to provide financial aid to those in need, but also to promote literacy through the written word. Each semester, two students, a college student and high school senior, are chosen to receive $1,000 towards their college career. We understand that college can be an expensive endeavor, one many children cannot afford. According to a story published by US News and World Report, the average annual tuition (plus expenses) at a private nonprofit four year college is about $35,000.

These days it’s difficult to come across any entry level position that doesn’t require a bachelor's degree. As young adults enter today's workforce, they realize the importance of a college education. Yet for most, it is difficult to understand why the cost of higher education continues to soar. In the past 25 years, the average cost of tuition and fees has risen faster than personal income, consumer prices and even health insurance, according to the College Board.

El Paso is no different. The University of Texas System’s Board of Regents approved an approximately 3.95 percent increase to tuition rates beginning in the fall of 2010, at nine university of Texas Institutions, including UTEP. The increase adds to the approximately 70 percent increase that UTEP has seen since 2004.

While we may not be able to stop the continually soaring price of a degree, we can do our part to ease the cost of an education for students. The writing contest is meant to help not just current college students, but high school students as well. Unlike most scholarships however, our writing contest makes it easy to apply.

Students are asked to choose from three topics, each relating to their personal finances. They must then write a 1,000 word essay recounting their experience and email it back to our credit union. A board will then read the each of the essays and choose the top writer from both the college and high school category.

Last semester was the first launch of the writing contest, and we were pleased and excited to have received hundreds of entries. Being able to read about the struggles the students in our community have had with money has helped us to create programs centered around their needs. Along with our writing contests, we are excited to roll out our fist ever Teen Magazine that will feature stories and financial tips related to their experiences.

Nearly two-thirds of college graduates leave school with debt, up from less than half in 1993, according to the non-profit Project on Student Debt.  We want to change this statistic and so we’ve dedicated 2011 towards educating the future of our community.