Nonprofit Organization Supports over 1,400 Students Pursuing Advanced Degrees

Media Contacts: Sandy Young / Jean Walcher, J. Walcher Communications
sandy@jwalcher.com / jean@jwalcher.com, 619-295-7140

SAN DIEGO (September 20, 2017) – The Alliant Educational Foundation (AEF), a nonprofit organization supporting students attending Alliant International University (AIU) and other institutions of higher education, has distributed more than $2 million in scholarship support for students in need over the past 12 months. A total of 1,416 scholarships were awarded during the last two semesters, providing financial aid for well-deserving and disadvantaged students striving toward careers of service and leadership.

At $2 million dollars, AEF’s latest round of scholarships marks its largest funding amount ever. The foundation has pledged a total of $5 million dollars to AIU’s student scholarships over three years, with $1.5 million committed for each of the next two school years.

Winners are selected primarily by AIU staff and/or faculty review committees and judged on criteria including: merit, financial need, area of study and essays. With a keen understanding that the field of higher education is changing rapidly, the funding is crucial for students who may not have the necessary resources to advance their educational and career goals.

“As a first-generation college student and the first person in my family to attend graduate school, I have been foraging a path toward a graduate degree and working tirelessly to fund my education,” said Cassie Brown, recipient of the California School of Professional Psychology Impact Scholarship. “I have been working to begin my graduate journey to help improve our communities as a provider of mental health services and an advocate for mental health care for those in need.”

Since the foundation’s launch in 2015, donations to AEF have helped students across California pursue advanced professional practice degrees in professions such as education, psychology and law.

“I didn’t know how I was going to afford the Ph.D. program,” said Bahar Ehfad, clinical Ph.D. scholarship recipient at California School of Professional Psychology at the Los Angeles campus of Alliant University. “My professors and mentors do not limit themselves to one role. Many teach, maintain successful private practices and hold strong research roles in the psychology community. I would like to do the same after graduation.”

AEF also manages a wide variety of scholarship opportunities beyond their larger awards, most of which are donor-endowed. These awards – such as the Jei Africa Dissertation Award for Filipino American Studies and Tauber Fellowships in Clinical Psychology – have added an additional $115,000 in funding over the past year to benefit students across California.

All scholarships funded by AEF help further the foundation’s goal of supporting post-secondary students as they prepare for careers dedicated to improving lives in underserved communities.