WILLMAR - Ridgewater College has received a $200,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation to fund scholarships in the Finish Line Scholarship Program.
The grant is part of a program to award up to $4 million in scholarships over the next two years to help state public colleges located in or near Bremer Bank communities.
Bremer Finish Line Program will support the development or expansion of scholarship programs and student services seeking to improve students’ semester-to-semester persistence and on-time completion of certificate and degree programs.
The program is targeted at underrepresented students who face financial, academic and other struggles. It includes students of color, low-income students and those whose parents did not attend college.
According to Kelly Magnuson, Ridgewater College Foundation director, the grant will more than double the scholarship dollars available to underrepresented students in the coming year. Ridgewater will select 50 students from the pool of applicants to receive $3,600 each in scholarships to be paid out over three semesters.
To receive all of the payments, students will have to participate in their college’s TRIO and Student Success programs, including regular advisement sessions, study groups, workshops and one-on-one progress meetings.
The goals of the program are to provide resources to students to encourage persistence and completion and to reduce financial obstacles students encounter while pursuing their education.
Other schools which received grants in the first round of the Finish Line Program are:
• Alexandria Technical and Community College, Alexandria, $200,000
• Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Coon Rapids, $200,000
• Anoka Technical College, Anoka, $200,000
• Hennepin Technical College, Brooklyn Park and Eden Prairie, $100,000
• Minnesota State Community and Technical College, Moorhead, $200,000
• Minnesota West Community and Technical College, Redwood Falls and Marshall, $200,000
• Normandale Community College, Bloomington, $200,000
• North Hennepin Community College, Brooklyn Park, $200,000
• Ridgewater College, Willmar campus, $200,000
• Riverland Community College, Owatonna, Albert Lea and Austin, $200,000
The Otto Bremer Foundation will work with schools to evaluate how well the scholarship recipients are doing and what can be learned from the focused attention the students will receive.
In 2013, the Otto Bremer Foundation, based in St. Paul, provided $38 million in grants and program-related investments to more than 700 organizations in Bremer Bank communities in Minnesota, North Dakota and western Wisconsin.
The foundation’s grants help people achieving full economic, civic and social participation in their communities. The foundation owns 92 percent of Bremer Bank and a large portion of bank profit is invested in local communities through the foundation.
