According to Sallie Mae’s How America Pays for College 2020, on average, American families spent $30,017 on college. For those who dream of higher education, that fact may be daunting.

Fortunately, free scholarships and grants are available to help lighten the load, covering 25% or $7,626 of education cost during the last academic year. 
Our local public relations community continues to assist and support students pursuing their academic goals via the Pennsylvania Public Relations Society (PPRS) 2021 Communications Scholarship and the creation of the Kenneth G. Robinson, APR Memorial Scholarship, a joint effort of PPRS and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Central Pennsylvania Chapter.

2021 PPRS Scholarship Available 
PPRS is now accepting applications for its 2021 Communications Scholarship. Please help us to spread the word among any qualified students! 
PPRS will choose one $1,000 scholarship recipient. All applicants must be full-time communications and/or public relations students and:

  • an upcoming junior or senior
  • a legal PA resident and full-time student
  • involved in extracurricular activities
  • a strong writer with at least a 2.75 GPA.

Application deadline: The application must be emailed to PPRSHbg@gmail.com or postmarked by Wednesday, March 10, or emailed by Friday, March 12, 2021.

For more details and to access the application, please click here. 

Questions? Please direct any questions to PPRSHbg@gmail.com. 
Kenneth G. Robinson, APR Memorial Scholarship Created
In the final weeks of the 2020, PPRS and PRSA Central PA Chapter approved and signed a letter of agreement with The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC), officially creating a communications scholarship to honor the life and contributions of Kenneth G. Robinson, APR:

  • Graduating high school and undergraduates in PA will be eligible. Financial need is one of the criteria; development of the scholarship criteria will be completed this year.
  • By partnering with TFEC, we benefit from proven experience in scholarship administration and the ability to double the scholarship funds for the student recipient through PHEAA.
  • The first dollar raised for the scholarship will be invested immediately. We can begin scholarship distribution when $10,000 minimum is raised. We have five years to reach this goal but aim to raise it in 2021.
  • The president and treasurer of both organizations will officially serve on the scholarship committee with TFEC. In practice the PPRS Scholarship Committee and PRSA ad hoc committee/volunteers will work on criteria, outreach, scholarship application reviews, etc. and then make recommendations to the presidents and treasurers to convey on the official TFEC committee.

A sincere thank you to all those who volunteered and contributed time and energy to this effort. If you are interested in working on the ad hoc committee, or if you have questions, please contact Leslie Amorós, APR, at leslie@imprado.com.  
Ready to donate? Contribute to the fund today: https://www.tfec.org/scholarships/kenneth-g-robinson-apr-memorial-scholarship-fund/.