Scholarship fund to help Neb. college students

Northwestern Financial Review, Jan 1, 2002

The Nebraska Bankers Association has started a scholarship program designed to encourage college students pursuing degrees that prepare them for the banking industry.

Beginning this spring, NBA will award six scholarships annually to college juniors or seniors studying business at one of the state or privately funded colleges or universities in Nebraska. The program will award $1,000 to a student with a qualifying major.

The scholarships will be funded through the Nebraska Bankers Educational Foundation, which was established a decade ago to facilitate the association's operation of a chapter of the American Institute of Banking. A change in AIB's bylaws in May 2000 freed Foundation funds for other purposes and Nebraska bankers began to contemplate the establishment of a scholarship program.

Three of the scholarships will be awarded in memory of William B. Brandt, who died in December 2000. Brandt, who served in the Nebraska legislature, was general counsel and lobbyist for the NBA for 25 years.

Students interested in applying for a Nebraska Bankers Educational Foundation scholarship must have at least a college junior or senior level status with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 and must be pursuing a degree in business administration (including areas of finance, accounting or economics) at a state or privately funded Nebraska college or university. Students at the University of Nebraska are not eligible for the scholarship because the NBA already awards scholarships and grants to U of N students through the University Foundation Allocation Committee.

Applicants have until Jan. 31 to apply for scholarships to be awarded at the NBA annual convention this spring.