06/15/2005
NFIB Young Entrepreneur Foundation Names Free Enterprise Scholars
As the school year comes to a close and high school seniors begin to prepare for college, some of these business-savvy students are heading off to the school of their choice with a little bit of extra scholarship money in their name.
The NFIB Young Entrepreneur Foundation today announced the recipients of the third annual NFIB Free Enterprise Scholars Awards, a scholarship program designed to set young small-business owners on the path to entrepreneurship. The NFIB Free Enterprise Scholars will attend the university, college, community college or vocational/technical institute of their choice with $1,000 in tuition assistance from the NFIB Young Entrepreneur Foundation. The program encourages young people to consider a career in small business and pursue their own entrepreneurial endeavors.
In 2003, the program’s inaugural year, NFIB awarded a total of 110 scholarships nationwide, and in 2004, 221 scholarships. This year has been the scholarship program’s best year yet, boasting 381 scholarship awards, thanks to additional financial support from numerous small-business leaders and corporate and foundation supporters. The major corporate sponsor is Visa USA, which donated $100,000 to the national program for scholarships across the country.
To earn a scholarship, students explained their entrepreneurial achievements in an essay. Each applicant also composed an essay about the importance of free enterprise and submitted their standardized test scores, GPA and class rank for consideration. NFIB members around the country must nominate all applicants for the Free Enterprise Scholars Award.
