29 Southwest Texas UMs aided by Student Day offering

Twenty-nine Southwest Texas Conference college students are receiving more than $53,000 in financial aid this school year from The United Methodist Church.
That money—$48,000 in scholarships and $5,000 in loans—comes from denominational sources supported by the annual United Methodist Student Day special offering.
Nov. 25 is the officially designated Sunday this year for the offering. It is one of six special collections on The United Methodist Church calendar each year.
Congregations may receive money for student loans and scholarships on any Sunday before Dec. 31.
Southwest Texas United Methodists gave $9,138 to the Student Day offering in 2007. That was up from $6,937 in 2006.
“This money isn’t about paying bills,” said Water Lengel, a scholarship recipient from Northwest Hills UMC, Austin. “This money is about helping, and, in some cases, enabling students to pursue what they are truly passionate about.”
His United Methodist scholarship will enable his younger sister to choose whatever college she wants to attend next year, said Lengel, a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Having this scholarship takes care of some of my expenses and helps my family support her wherever she wants to go,” he explained. “It helps her not have to be limited by costs.”
Lengel plans a double major in communication and the honors program. After graduation, he intends to attend seminary to become a youth minister.
Support by Southwest Texas United Methodists for the Student Day offering, he said, has put him closer to his goal.
Sarah Fry of First UMC, Victoria, has received the $1,000 Gift of Hope scholarship every year she’s been in college, said her father, the Rev. Jason Fry, senior pastor of the Victoria congregation.
The senior studying nursing at UM-related McMurry University in Abilene is on a full tuition honor’s scholarship, but the Gift of Hope grant helps with her living expenses, he said.
“All her tuition is paid,” Fry said. “But there are other expenses associated with going to college. All of (the scholarships) have been helpful.”
Money from the Student Day offering goes to the Office of Loans and Scholarships at the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.
That office issued more than $4.5 million in loans and scholarships to 3,325 students during 2006. That compares to $6 million in aid to 4,250 students in 2005.
Declining revenue from Student Day and World Communion Sunday special offerings has reduced available resources for student financial aid, said Angella Current-Felder, executive director of the loans and scholarships office.
United Methodist scholarships meet an important goal, she said.
“In the board’s strategic plan, we state that our mission is to ‘lead and serve The United Methodist Church in the recruitment, preparation, nurture, education and support of Christian leaders—lay and clergy—for the work of making disciples of

Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world,’” she said.
The Nashville-based agency envisions “a new generation of Christian leaders who commit boldly to Jesus Christ and are characterized by intellectual excellence, moral integrity, spiritual courage and holiness of heart and life,” she said.
By December, Current-Felder said, the office expects to have awarded $5 million in scholarships to more than 3,000 United Methodist graduate and undergraduate students for 2007.
The Office of Loans and Scholarships rebates 10 percent of Student Day receipts—$914 last year—to the conference Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry for local merit scholarships. Those awards are announced each year at the annual conference session.
Amy Elizabeth Lizinger, Bethany UMC, Austin, received the 2006 Southwest Texas Conference merit scholarship.
United Methodist scholarships and loans are available to students attending accredited institutions. Some are limited to specific academic majors or United Methodist-related schools.
Information about scholarships and loans for the 2008-2009 academic year is available at www.gbhm.org.