Sallie Mae, the nation’s saving, planning, and paying for college company, today announced its Family Scholarship Program has awarded $120,000 in scholarships to 24 children of company employees. Sallie Mae’s Family Scholarship Program provides financial assistance to employees' children who plan to attend college or a vocational-technical school. Each of this year’s recipients received a $5,000 scholarship for the upcoming academic year.

According to “How America Pays for College 2016,” the national study by Sallie Mae and Ipsos, nearly half of all families used a scholarship to help pay for college in academic year 2015-16. “How America Pays for College 2016” also found that scholarships and grants covered 34 percent of college costs last year, the largest proportion of any resource used to pay for college in the past five years.

Sallie Mae’s Family Scholarship Program awards up to 10 new scholarships, each of which is renewable for up to three years or until the student earns a bachelor’s degree or certificate. For academic year 2016-17, the company awarded 10 scholarships and extended 14 scholarship renewals. Nearly 300 children of Sallie Mae employees have benefited to date from the program, which has provided more than $1.5 million in scholarships since 2001.

“Sallie Mae is all about helping customers save, plan, and responsibly pay for college, and that mission also extends to our employees and their families,” said Bonnie Beasley, senior vice president, Sallie Mae. “Our Family Scholarship Program is an important and valuable benefit, and it’s just one of the ways we express our appreciation for the work our employees do every day on behalf of students and families across the country.”

This year’s Family Scholarship recipients include:

  • Benjamin Campbell of Newark, Del., who is pursuing legal studies at Wesley College.
  • Madison Pruitt of Bear, Del., who is studying cognitive science at the University of Delaware.
  • Mariah Hoofer of Indianapolis, Ind., who plans to study special education at Ball State University.
  • Nicholas Kennedy of Carmel, Ind., who will study business at Purdue University.
  • Alexandra Plummer of Indianapolis, Ind., who plans to study pharmacy or engineering at Purdue University.
  • Alyssa Shea of Franklin, Mass., who will study arts and sciences at Providence College.
  • Mary Adelaide Fries of Cincinnati, Ohio, who is pursuing a degree in public administration at Miami University.
  • Stephanie Ohalek of Youngstown, Ohio, who is studying allied health at Otterbein University.
  • Alexandra Goodwin of Midlothian, Va., who plans to study nursing at James Madison University.
  • Esther Wisdom of Falls Church, Va., who plans to study biochemistry at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

The Family Scholarship Program is open to dependent children of full- or part-time Sallie Mae employees with at least one year of service. The awards are merit-based; academic record, community involvement, honors, work experience, and other factors are considered. Applicants must be high school seniors or graduates who will attend an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school full-time in the upcoming academic year.

Sallie Mae also offers a variety of scholarship opportunities to students nationwide. The company has awarded nearly $240,000 in scholarships in 2016 alone through programs including:

  • The Bridging the Dream Scholarship, which asked school counselors throughout the country to nominate students who demonstrate excellence inside and outside the classroom. In 2016, four students were awarded $25,000 each in Bridging the Dream Scholarships.
  • The Make College Happen Challenge, which recognized students with a plan to pay for college. The top three recipients received scholarships of $15,000, $10,000, and $7,500, respectively, and seven other winners each received $1,000.
  • The Sallie Mae Bank Scholarship Program, which provides scholarships for students in Utah, where Sallie Mae’s wholly owned banking subsidiary is headquartered. This annual program, which is based on community needs, typically awards nearly $100,000, with individual scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.

Sallie Mae makes it easy for students and families to find scholarships with its free online Scholarship Search tool, which provides access to 5 million scholarships worth a total of $24 billion.

For more free online tools and resources to help families save, plan, and responsibly pay for college visit SallieMae.com/PlanforCollege. For more information about opportunities to join the Sallie Mae family of employees, visit SallieMae.com/about/careers.

Sallie Mae (NASDAQ: SLM) is the nation’s saving, planning, and paying for college company. Whether college is a long way off or just around the corner, Sallie Mae offers products that promote responsible personal finance, including private education loans, Upromise rewards, scholarship search, college financial planning tools, and online retail banking. Learn more at SallieMae.com. Commonly known as Sallie Mae, SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.