Marine Corps Base Quantico -- Shannon Schuyler says the PwC Charitable Foundation’s recent donation of $1.25 million to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation is but a small token of the gratitude America has for the sacrifice of its service members.
“We can’t thank them enough for how they have served us,” said Schuyler, the PwC Charitable Foundation’s principal, corporate responsibility leader and president of PwC Charitable Foundation Inc.
But the Alexandria-based non-profit organization’s series of grants over the next five years to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation is a good start. The charitable assistance will go a long ways toward the education of the children of those who have selflessly served our nation at home and abroad by providing hundreds of higher education need-based scholarships to the children of Marines and Navy Corpsmen.
The nation’s oldest and largest provider of need-based scholarships to military children, the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation awarded 2,200 scholarships totaling more than $6.6 million in the 2014-15 school year alone. The organization’s generosity has helped military families cope with college tuitions that have soared by 121 percent over the last 10 years, according to the Department of Labor.
Margaret B. Davis, the Scholarship Foundation president and CEO, called the scholarships a way to honor the sacrifice of the many Marines and sailors who serve our nation while simultaneously investing in America.
“The children we’re reaching have not only been raised on honor, courage and commitment,” said Davis, the wife of retired Marine Maj. Gen. Andrew “Drew” Davis, “but they’re going on and doing great things. This is the future our country.”
Fifty percent of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation scholarship recipients are first-generation college students. Forty-five percent of the recipients are pursuing majors in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and health sciences, while 17 percent major in social science and 14 percent in business.
The recipients welcome the precious opportunity to further their education and alter their own life trajectories. Some, like University of North Carolina sophomore Isaiah Leiva, will undoubtedly make the most of the scholarships and follow their parents into military service. Leiva plans to attend Officer Candidates School and follow in the footsteps of his father, an active duty sergeant major with 24 years of service in the Marine Corps, including several combat tours.
The donation to the MCSF is part of the PwC Charitable Foundation’s $5 million overall commitment with a series of grants to support U.S. veterans and their families over the next five years.
“It’s organizations like the the PwC Charitable Foundation that make it possible for the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation to support the families of Marines and sailors,” Leiva said.
Since 1962, the Scholarship Foundation has awarded more than 33,000 scholarships valued at nearly $90 million. The Scholarship Foundation is currently accepting applications for the 2015-16 academic year, with a submission deadline of March 3. The Scholarship Foundation gives particular attention to to children whose parents were killed or wounded in action.
To apply, visit www.mcsf.org/apply.
“We’re not there with [the Marines and sailors],” Davis said, “but we can lessen the burden.”
— Writer: jhollis@quanticosentryonline.com