Press Release: Scholarships for Displaced Workers

News Brief - 5/11/09

Western Governors University Announces Scholarship Program for Displaced Workers

Salt Lake City, Utah — In the past 15 months, more than 5.1 million Americans have lost their jobs. Many of the job losses are permanent—displaced workers will need to retool for new jobs and careers by going back to school for more training and education. To address this need for additional higher education, Western Governors University (www.wgu.edu), the non-profit, online university designed for adult learners, has created the Economic Turnaround Scholarship Program. The scholarship program provides up to $4,000 per student to make it possible for recently laid-off workers to go back to school to earn a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

“With the national unemployment rate at 8.9%, getting people back to work must be the top priority for education, government, and industry,” said WGU President Robert Mendenhall. “WGU focuses on providing degree programs in high demand fields such as healthcare, education, and information technology, and our unique, competency-based academic model is designed for busy, adult learners. We’re committing the funds to this scholarship program to help unemployed workers, who may not have the financial resources to attend college, complete their degrees and become more competitive in the job marketplace.”

WGU’s Economic Turnaround Scholarships are open to new WGU students who have become unemployed in the past 12 months, are able to complete a degree program in two years or less, and currently have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. The program is competitive, and scholarships will be awarded based on the candidate’s academic record, financial need, current competency, and readiness for online study at WGU. Scholarship recipients will be eligible to receive $1,000 per six-month term for up to four terms. For more details regarding the scholarship program, call 1-866-225-5948 (866-CALL-WGU).