Did you know that approximately two-thirds of full-time college students pay for their education with the help of a grant of scholarship? Indeed, financial aid provides a door for many students to pursue their dreams of college. Educational attainment is one of the most reliable indicators of a child’s future success and giving back with the gift of education is one of the best ways to ensure that your estate helps others long after you’re gone. Are you interested in establishing a planned gift for education? This blog will outline the various ways you can use your estate to fund your passion for education.
Educational Grant or Scholarship:
There are many ways to donate towards an educational grant or scholarship. The simplest way to give the gift of education is a cash bequest to an educational institution or to an already established scholarship fund. You can give your alma mater a percentage of your entire estate under your will or trust or you can identify a specific sum to be distributed to that education institution before your estate is distributed to your heirs. This type of cash or percentage bequest can even be given to a certain department or college within your university. Another easy way to contribute is to name an educational institution or scholarship fund as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, investment account or annuity. These types of gifts may have tax benefits if the educational institution or scholarship fund is a non-profit.
Endowment:
An endowment is another way to benefit students and educational institutions. An endowed scholarship is a gift to an educational institution used to fund scholarships. The capital of the endowed scholarship (the money you’ve contributed) is preserved and the interest is given to the scholarship recipient so the gift can last for a longer period of time. If you would like to benefit a particular type of student or encourage someone in your community to have the ability to study a certain field, a restricted endowment is the way to go. Through this type of gift, you are able to identify exactly how you want your contribution to be used (say for physical therapy students from Selma, Texas) and may even be able to set the qualifications for the scholarship (4.0, certain hours of community service, etc.).
An endowment can be used to fund specific research positions or bring educators with particular backgrounds to the educational institution. You may often hear of doctors and professors who have endowed positions at universities. These individuals are paid through an endowment to research and educate students on specific topics and funded entirely by endowments created by donors.
If you are looking for more information about scholarships, endowments and how to give to an educational institution, an estate planning attorney can work in conjunction with the college, university and/or scholarship fund to determine the best past for you. Almost every educational institution has information available for potential donors in order to make the process simple and straight forward.