Legislators Help Women Pursuing a Second Chance

(Posted 2/25/2010) - The Conference of Women Legislators (COWL) a not-for-profit organization and a bipartisan coalition of women legislators in the Illinois General Assembly, announce their 2010-2011 Scholarship Award Program. COWL created the scholarship program as part of its mission to promote economic independence, community service and leadership development. COWL has recently announced that scholarships of $2500 each will be awarded. These college scholarships are aimed at helping women who are earning their college degrees, later in life in many cases.

One of the gaps in the state college aid programs is assistance for mature women who may have had their education interrupted by plans to start a family or who never had an opportunity to attend college until later in life. These non-traditional students often don’t qualify for existing financial aid programs. Rather than pass a law to create a new grant, COWL started raising money to fund scholarships on their own. This scholarship program has made a difference in the lives of many women by enabling them to achieve their educational dreams.

Scholarship applicants are required to enroll in an Illinois accredited college or university for a minimum of seven credit hours to qualify, making the scholarships available to a part-time student. In addition to academic achievement, the scholarship committee also considers volunteer or paid community service work that benefited women in transition. Applications must be postmarked by April 9, 2010. Awardees will be notified of the decisions by May 7, 2010. Scholarship applications may be downloaded from the COWL website at www.cowlil.com .