Central Scholarship Awards Inaugural $30,000 Award to Recent UMBC Graduate

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (Aug. 10, 2015) – For 91 years, Central Scholarship (CS) has helped Marylanders secure loans and scholarships so they could pursue higher education. Now, the non-profit is taking it a step further by helping with post-education finances.

Student loan debt is skyrocketing: nearly 40 million students in the United States have borrowed $1.3 trillion, and 7 in 10 graduating college seniors graduate with an average $30,000 in student loan debt.

With this in mind, CS recently introduced a Student Loan Pay-Down Program that awards $30,000 to one or more deserving graduates every year for at least the next five years to pay off their debt. The program is funded by CS Board Chair Ira Wagner, a retired corporate executive and private investor.

At last week’s Central Scholarship 2015 Student Awards Ceremony, Raymond Major, Jr. of Baltimore was selected the debut winner in the Student Loan Pay-Down lottery among 29 eligible candidates.

About the Winner

Major graduated in 2014 from University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and now works as an IT Helpdesk support center agent at Johns Hopkins at Mount Washington Conference Center.

“We invest in education but I come out now making how much I owe,” he explained prior to the ceremony. “I make about $30,000 a year, but I owe $30,000 so it’s kind of hard to pay off.”

Ecstatic to hear his ticket number called, he yelled in disbelief, jumped out of his seat and ran up to the stage to accept the award, which nearly wipes out that debt. (See http://tinyurl.com/nqzsjm9 for the reveal.)

“My entire life changed in a matter of minutes,” he later proclaimed. “Words could not describe my joy.”

Major initially turned to CS as a student at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. Following the death of his father, he grew up a single-parent home, along with three siblings. His mother worked two jobs until she was diagnosed with cancer and had to have her left arm amputated.

To alleviate some of the financial burden, Major worked 12 hours a week at a local McDonald’s. He desperately wanted to attend college to continue to give back to his family and also help the community. CS made that possible.

“I have been so blessed by Central Scholarship’s generosity over my four years of college. They have been such strong supporters of my academic journey and I honestly could not be any happier,” he added. “The Wagner family now joins the Central Scholarship staff as my true heroes.”

About the Donor

Wagner’s connection to CS spans decades. His mother occasionally was a typist for the non-profit. His father was a guidance counselor at Baltimore City College who referred dozens, if not hundreds, of students to the non-profit.

After graduating from Pikesville High School, Wagner received a bachelor’s degree at Southern Vermont College (where he currently serves on the board of directors) and earned an MBA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He now lives in Bethesda with his wife, Marcia.

“The whole idea of helping students achieve to their full potential was part and parcel of my father’s legacy. And so I’m just trying to do my best to continue with that,” said Wagner who joined the CS board in 2010 and became chair in 2014.

“Central Scholarship has a big focus on the cost of college and managing the cost of college. And the staff at Central Scholarship thought it would be a really good idea to do this and I agreed,” he added. “It will be really terrific because I will know that having no debt will enable that graduate to go pursue whatever their passion is.”

About Central Scholarship

Central Scholarship, founded in 1924, is devoted to helping individuals in Maryland achieve a better life through higher education. It awards over $1 million annually in scholarships and interest free loans for career training and undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. Central Scholarship also offers College Cash® education sessions to help students and their families become more informed consumers of higher education and reduce their loan burden. For more information, visit www.central-scholarship.org.