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Goodwill Southern Rivers (Goodwill) recently announced that it is investing $1 million in technical education across its fifty-county service delivery area. Goodwill divided the award among several area technical colleges, including Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC). This week, the SRTC Foundation received $140,000 in support of SRTC students with unmet financial needs. The new Goodwill Gap Fund Scholarship will help to lower financial barriers associated with college attendance. The Goodwill Gap Fund represents one of the first initiatives implemented after Goodwill received a ten million donation from American novelist and philanthropist McKenzie Scott.

Goodwill President and CEO, Jack Warden said, “This initiative is designed to bridge the gap between existing scholarships and grants and the actual cost of tuition. There are several grants and scholarships out there, but in some instances, they fall short of the actual cost of the program. Oftentimes this is just a few hundred dollars, but that can be a huge barrier to someone trying to get an education to start their career.” In addition to the generous financial gift, Goodwill has pledged to offer career coaching, counseling, and job placement services to recipients as further support towards helping individuals realize their career goals.

The Foundation will use $40,000 of the grant to establish the Goodwill Gap Fund Scholarship. The remaining $100,000 of the donation will be placed in an endowment for future use per donor request. This scholarship will be available to students beginning in the summer semester of 2022 for tuition, fees, books and other programmatic expenses.

“Our Foundation exists to support students,” said Director of Resource Development Christina Reneau. “Because of this generous contribution, we will be able to serve more students than ever before. We are grateful to Goodwill Southern Rivers for championing technical education, helping students, and strengthening the workforce in our area.”

Each semester, the SRTC Foundation offers scholarship funding to qualifying students who successfully complete the online scholarship application process. Scholarship applications for the summer semester will open Thursday, February 17. The Foundation offers thirty-four scholarships that serve an ever-growing number of students. Current and future SRTC students may apply for these scholarships through the College’s streamlined online application at southernregional.awardspring.com.