Contribution will help dependents of terrorist-attack victims pursue higher education

USA Funds Pledges $1 Million to Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund

INDIANAPOLIS—USA Funds^®, the nation's leading student-loan guarantor, has pledged up to $1 million to a fund that will provide college scholarships to the spouses and children of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

USA Funds' contribution will support the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund^™ to assist dependents of those who were killed or permanently disabled by the terrorist attacks. The Fund was established by the Citizens' Scholarship Foundation of America (CSFA), the nation's largest private-sector scholarship and educational-support organization, and Lumina Foundation for Education, a private, charitable foundation dedicated to expanding access to higher education nationwide.

USA Funds is contributing $500,000 outright to the scholarship fund and is committing an additional amount of up to $500,000 in matching grants to encourage individual donations to the Fund.

In announcing the contribution, William R. Neale, chairman of USA Funds' Board of Trustees, said, "In keeping with USA Funds' mission in support of access to education, this contribution recognizes the unique education-funding needs of family members who were victimized by this tragedy. We urge other organizations and individuals to contribute to this Fund to ensure that those who suffered the greatest losses in this attack on our country are not also denied their dreams of a college education."

The $1-million commitment to the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund is in addition to USA Funds' support of its own $3-million national scholarship program, which will award scholarships to qualified students from families with annual incomes of less than $35,000 for the 2002-2003 academic year.

To make a donation to the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, call (800) 335-1102; visit the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund Web site; or make a check payable to the Citizens' Scholarship Foundation of America, designating the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, and mail to:

Citizens' Scholarship Foundation of America
1505 Riverview Road
P.O. Box 297
St. Peter, MN 56082

To apply for assistance from the Fund, call (800) 335-1102, and ask for the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund program manager.