Bookstore offers 50 $100 text vouchers

A $100 bookstore scholarship is available for students who have not received financial aid reimbursement on time.

Dr. Alice Johnson, dean of learning resources, said there will be 50 vouchers available for application starting in January.

Students must be in good academic standing, but there is no need for proof of financial need. The endowed scholarship is for both part- and full-time students of any major. Students also must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0.

Johnson said the vouchers are available to continuing education and international students as well. “We were trying to hit people that don’t have other options,” Johnson said.

Scholarship Coordinator Irene Fuentes said students can apply for the scholarship at http://www.alamo.edu/main.aspx?id=2467. The application process opens at 8 a.m. Jan. 14.

Students need to fill out the Alamo Colleges Foundation Scholarship application only once to be eligible for all scholarships.

Fuentes said once the applications are received, judges — employees of this college and community members — will sort through the data to find which scholarships best fit student needs.

She said they score each application, then send it to Fuentes to match criteria. Scoring is based on GPA, academic plans, extracurricular activities, leadership skills, participation in community activities and responses to essay questions.

Students with the highest scores are the first to be awarded.

The topic came up at the Audit, Budget and Finance Committee meeting Sept. 11 during a presentation by Diane Snyder, vice chancellor for finance and administration, on the AlamoCash debit card. She reported that the card vendor, Heartland Payment Systems, neglected to produce 10,000 debit cards of an order of 10,.

On Aug. 21, college officials discovered the error, but the vendor managed to deliver the missing cards by the Aug. 24 deadline.

Snyder reported that financial aid refunds, which are disbursed on the cards, can be issued no earlier than 10 days before the first day of classes, and no later than 14 days after the date the balance occurred on the student’s account, according to the department of education disbursement timeline window.

District 1 trustee Joe Alderete Jr. asked about a backup plan for students who need the card to buy books or materials.

Palo Alto College offers book cards ranging from $100-$300 dependent on needs and St. Philip’s College has a textbook loan program on a first-come, first-served basis.

The bookstore scholarship is the only back-up plan at this college.

For more information, call Fuentes at 210-486-0963.