SECU OFFERS SCHOLARSHIPS TO MD STATE EMPLOYEES

SECU – Maryland’s largest financial cooperative – will once again offer scholarships to Maryland state employees and their immediate family members who will attend college, graduate school, or trade school in the fall of 2015.

“The State Employee Scholarship Program represents an essential part of SECU’s continuing commitment to make both financial and scholastic education available to our members,” says Peggy Young, Vice President of Marketing at SECU. “Doing so enables the communities we serve throughout Maryland to become stronger and financially healthier, one member and one household at a time.”

SECU’s State Employee Scholarship Program also recognizes that Maryland state employees and their families have always been at the heart of SECU,” notes Young. “While we do not serve state employees exclusively, we have always had a special relationship with them,” she explains. “This Scholarship Program recognizes that relationship.”

Over the past eight years, SECU has awarded nearly $250,000 in scholarships to Maryland state employees and family members through the State Employee Scholarship Program.

As in past years, scholarship amounts in 2015 will vary and will be based on submission of a graded essay or video. This year, applicants will be required to submit an essay or video on the following questions: Explain your understanding of the difference between a credit union and a bank. What do you see as the benefits of being a member of a credit union as opposed to being a customer of a bank? How do you see a credit union making a difference in your financial future?

To be eligible for SECU’s State Employee Scholarship Program, applicants must be current or retired Maryland state employees or members of the immediate families of current or retired Maryland state employees. Winners must be enrolled or accepted into a college, university, trade, or technical school. Twelfth graders who plan to attend college next fall are also eligible.

Winners of the 2015 scholarship awards will be announced on May 12. Eligibility will be verified. The deadline for applications is April 10.

For more information, application form, and submission guidelines, visit www.secumd.org/scholarships.

ABOUT SECU

Founded in Baltimore in 1951, SECU is the largest state-chartered financial cooperative in Maryland, with over 230,000 members. SECU is ranked among the top 50 credit unions for total assets in the U.S. As of December, 2014, assets were $2.8 billion. Headquartered in Linthicum, MD, SECU has 22 branches and 106 ATMs throughout Maryland. SECU also provides access to over 72,000 free ATMs through the CO-OP and Allpoint networks. For more information about SECU, visit secumd.org.