PAC 101 - The PAC Scholarship
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PAC is committed to making the cooperative
preschool experience available to those not otherwise able to afford it.
To this end, PAC orchestrates the raising of money for the PAC
Scholarship Fund. Qualifying families may receive up to 50% of their
co-op tuition costs. The Scholarship Committee works with parent
educators to fairly parcel out what is available. Each year, around 80
families, or 10% of our co-op population, are helped in this way. 100%
of the money raised for the scholarship fund goes to tuition assistance.
How Scholarships Are Funded
Traditionally, scholarship money was raised
through an annual raffle organized by PAC. Last year, after much
discussion within PAC and a vote within each of the co-ops (presented to
each co-op by its PAC rep), the raffle was disbanded and a new system
adopted. Starting this 2004-5 academic year, each co-op is now
responsible for supplying to the PAC scholarship fund an annual “minimum
financial commitment” based on the number of families in that co-op.
For this first year, the amount was set at $20 per family (a figure
based on the old raffle requirement of selling at least $20 of tickets
per family). So, for example, a co-op of 20 families will owe $400 to
this year’s PAC scholarship fund (due in March).
Power to the Co-ops
How each co-op raises the PAC scholarship money is
up to that co-op. In fact, a big part of this new process is about
giving back to the co-ops the choice of how to raise funds—something
requested by many. A lot of our co-ops have strong fundraising programs
already in place that continue year after year with great success; they
prefer to use their own program to meet both PAC and internal
fundraising goals.
For co-ops that don’t have such established programs (e.g., infant and
toddler groups), PAC created the Entertainment Book fundraiser as a
helpful option. The advantages are many: it is pre-organized, takes
place early in the academic year and so can help kick-start a co-op’s
fundraising, delivers higher profits through pooled resources, and is
risk-free (unsold books are simply returned). Finally, resulting
proceeds can be used by participating co-ops as they see fit: for
example, to meet the PAC scholarship obligation, their own needs, or
both. PAC will continue to offer the Entertainment Book fundraiser each
Fall.
The Need is Growing
Our co-op community has an impressive history of
growing its scholarship fund. In recent years, we’ve raised and given
out around $16,000 a year in financial support. Unfortunately, the need
for assistance continues to grow. In fact, this Winter quarter was the
first in recent history in which there was more need than available
funds. Scholarships were requested in the amount of $7,000 but only
$5,425 was awarded. We received 51 applications (5 more than for Winter
2004). Of those, 31 received 100% of their co-op tuition, 16 received
75%, 4 received 50% and one application was turned down.
Beyond the Minimum
Because of this growing need, PAC is encouraging
co-ops to contribute more than their minimum obligation—just as when,
with the raffle, many of us sold more than our required 20 tickets. If
all co-ops meet but don’t exceed their minimum obligation, next year’s
fund will be $15,000 or so — $6,000 short of a projected $21,000 in
requests (assuming we give the full %50 of tuition, and applicant
numbers are close to this year’s). PAC would then need to reassess, and
perhaps look to increase, the minimum financial contributions for next
year.
We Shall Overcome
Any time changes are made to an established system,
some confusion and hiccups are bound to occur. PAC has given back the
power of choice in fundraising. The onus is now on us to ensure that our
impressive legacy of taking care of “our own” continues to thrive and
grow. I’ve no doubt we will succeed. After all, we are co-op parents. We
make great things happen!
Questions or Concerns
Feel free to discuss any of these topics with your
PAC rep. Your coop may also wish to contact the PAC Board Chair,
Jennifer Paris, directly with questions about its scholarship financial
commitment. Jennifer may be reached at (206)7896975 or
parismoe@comcast.net
