NORCROSS, Georgia – Ashworth College announced that Jeannette Resendiz, Jacksonville, FL, is the recipient of a full-tuition scholarship, to pursue her online degree. Resendiz’s essay, where she shared her personal story and aspiration to attain a higher education to improve her life, was selected from the close to 300,000 applicants applying for an eLearners.com Career Stimulus Package Scholarship.
A career change is the goal for Resendiz, a single mother who was recently laid off from her job with AT&T after 12 years of dedicated service. With her scholarship, she plans to pursue a Professional Medical Billing and Claims Program at Ashworth College (http://www.ashworthcollege.edu).
“With the current economic struggles, job hunting has become difficult for professionals with a degree and even more difficult for those of us without one,” said Resendiz. “By training to become a medical billing & coding specialist, I believe that I am choosing a field less likely to be impacted by the recession.”
Resendiz specifically wants to attend classes online, well aware of the money she will save in transportation and course material costs as well as time. “I made a commitment to assist my son in paying his student loans,” she explained, referring to her son who is months away from graduating from college with a degree in criminology.
“I endured several company designated moves, both in & out-of-state. Each move cost my son college credits that he must now pay to re-take,” Resendiz said. “In addition to school, he works two part-time jobs, barely giving him enough money for personal expenses. Without a job I’m unable to help and taking my pension early and paying distribution penalties in order to help pay off his loans is a last resort. I’m looking forward to this opportunity as a fresh start for me and my family.”
The Career Stimulus Package $4 million scholarship campaign was designed to highlight the need for financial aid and promote awareness and interest in online higher education. It also helped give people the confidence they need to pursue a degree and the career they want, even in this tough economy. The Career Stimulus Package campaign received about 100,000 applications a month from adults who expressed interest in returning to school. To apply for a scholarship, applicants had to explain why they want to go back to school, what they hope to accomplish, how online education would help them accomplish those goals, and their personal stories of triumph over adversity.
“Participating in the Career Stimulus Package Scholarship Campaign has been a positive experience for Ashworth College,” said F. Milton Miller, Ed.D. and Ashworth Vice President, Education. “It’s a great opportunity, through education, to help deserving, hard-working adults make a positive impact in their lives.”
“With the current economic climate, it is essential to have the greatest competitive advantage possible,” Miller added. “Having a college degree or advanced training can set an employee or job seeker apart -- demonstrating business knowledge to peers, potential customers and current or future employers.”
In addition to the scholarship for Resendiz, Ashworth College granted an additional 29 scholarships. In total, the Career Stimulus Package campaign awarded more than 100 full-tuition scholarships to deserving adults, with the help of eight accredited online schools.
“Thanks to the incredible generosity of our partner schools, adults are able to go back to school without having to worry about how they are going to fund their education,” said Terrence Thomas, Executive Vice President of Marketing for eLearners.com. “Adults are often a forgotten population when it comes to financial aid. We hear from people over and over that they want to go back to school, but can’t afford it. This campaign helped eliminate one huge roadblock for these individuals.”
The Career Stimulus Package campaign also included a nationwide RV tour which offered free career coaching. Nearly 1,000 people took part in the career coaching, which led to the creation of a free book of wisdom based on the most common questions asked from the road. That book can be found at http://www.careerstimulus.com.
