The KML Foundation is the largest source of student assistance funding and the impact is growing every year. This is valuable information, but what is the personal impact of the Foundation and KML’s student assistance fund.
Jerry Zeamer serves as KML’s Director of Admissions. He was willing to sit down and share the positive impact that is made through our student assistance fund, and gave some personal stories to demonstrate the fact our student assistance makes a difference and is truly appreciated.
Some people assumed that the Choice program would eliminate the need for student assistance. The truth is that our student assistance needs are greater than ever.
Any family can apply for student assistance. The application requires some personal financial information. The applications are all submitted to a third party that evaluates them, and gives us a report as to how much assistance each family needs. Our KML business manager receives that information and applies as much student assistance to each qualified family as possible. This is good news, and yet our fund is not yet large enough to meet the full needs of each family.
According to Jerry, a number of families are able to send their teens to KML because of the assistance they receive. Those are great stories. We also have families who make the sad decision not to enroll their teen, because the amount of assistance is not enough for them. That is the reason to seek people who are interested and willing to donate to the KML Foundation and increase the amount of assistance we can award each year.
It is also important to mention that the families who receive student assistance are not treated any differently than the other students. In fact, our faculty and staff don’t even know which students receive assistance. This policy helps us maintain dignity and privacy for our families.
As of now, donors can support student assistance in two different ways. Each year we receive current gifts that are used to help support our current students. We also receive donations to the KML Foundation which invests those gifts in an endowment fund. Then, each year, the Foundation awards 5% of the assets to our student assistance needs. With the amazing growth in the fund, the KML Foundation is now the largest source of student assistance.
If you would like to learn more about KML’s student assistance program, or to make a current or deferred gift for student assistance, contact Paul Snamiska at paul.snamiska@kmlhs.or. He will be happy to share information and answer any questions as to how you too can make a difference in the lives of countless future KML Chargers.