$10,000 endowment to the YSU Foundation from Alta Behavioral Healthcare

AUSTINTOWN

A parent who is struggling financially will find the cost of higher education to be much more affordable, thanks to a $10,000 endowment.

“I see this as a multiplier, because your assistance will be for the parent of a Head Start child,” Paul McFadden, the Youngstown State University Foundation’s president, said upon accepting the check from Alta Behavioral Healthcare during its board meeting Tuesday at the agency, 142 Javit Court.

The qualifying applicant will be a parent of a child enrolled in an Alta Head Start program, with preference to a parent with a child in YSU’s Alta Head Start classroom, McFadden explained.

Those who are eligible for the scholarship can be attending YSU full or part time, have to maintain a minimum 2.0 grade-point average, must be an undergraduate majoring in any field and are required to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, he said, noting the scholarship will be disbursed at the start of the Fall 2019 semester.

Last August, the Children’s Mental Health Circle of Friends Foundation and Alta established the scholarship, the purpose of which is to advance struggling parents’ education while preparing them for professions that will more likely allow them to escape poverty and provide a more stable family environment for themselves and their children, noted Gregory Cvetkovic, the Circle of Friends Foundation’s president.

Poverty is the main environmental factor that contributes to behavioral and emotional problems in children, and education is the primary tool for lifting people out of the cycle, Cvetkovic explained, adding that poverty usually lays the groundwork for violence, dysfunctional families and limited opportunities for success.

The YSU Foundation has managed about $240 million in endowment funds and has given out $8.1 million worth of scholarships for the 2017-18 school year, McFadden said.