ING
Direct Kids Foundation
Funds Scholarships
For Children of 9/11 Families
The ING DIRECT Kids Foundation has set aside $167,000 (plus possible
future contributions) to be distributed as scholarships to part-time
CUNY students who had a parent killed or severely injured in the
9/11 terrorist attacks.
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| Chancellor Goldstein with ING
DIRECT Kids Foundation Executive Director Deneen Donnley-Evans. |
Launched in 2001, the Kids Foundation was established to improve
the quality of life of children and adolescents.
“We were looking for some place where we could make a difference,”
said Deneen Donnley-Evans, the Foundation’s executive director,
in explaining how CUNY had been chosen. “We didn’t want
to be one cog in a big machine.”
CUNY and its part-time students have a special resonance for Donnley-Evans:
Her mother, a corrections officer, was a part-time student for
most of the time from the late 1960s until she earned her degree
from John Jay College in 1974.
Nonetheless, finding a place for the fund took some doing. “We
had been looking for two years to donate money to help children
who were affected by 9/11,” Donnley-Evans said. “We
couldn’t find a group that wasn’t being helped by other
organizations.”
Full-time students affected by the 9/11 attack are covered by
a New York State program. CUNY has 30 participants in that program,
which disbursed more than $100,000 in its first year.
About 40 percent of CUNY’s more than 400,000 students attend
part-time, and there was no aid program covering them, aside from
minimal TAP support. “This new program helps fill a significant
gap since the existing World Trade Center Memorial Scholarships
are only available to full-time students,” said Chancellor
Matthew Goldstein. “I am deeply grateful to Deneen Donnley-Evans…and
her colleagues at the ING DIRECT Kids Foundation.”
The ING DIRECT scholarship will be available to students who,
in addition to having been affected by the attacks, also meet
the University’s admissions criteria for matriculated undergraduate
standing, who attend one of the colleges part-time and who demonstrate
financial need.
An eligible student who remains in good academic standing may
receive funds for a maximum of 10 semesters. The University will
set the award amounts, based on its regular financial aid calculations.