We always value your assistance to directly aid the people at the core of the College. Major projects do not diminish the need to provide undergraduates with scholarships, graduates with fellowships and faculty with growth opportunities.

Such funds can be targeted to particular interests or provided so we can gauge the most immediate needs.

Contact us to share your interests. Drop by so we can show you the plans.

Tell your friends and colleagues. You don’t have to be one of our alumni to share our interests in strengthened communication.

Students with curious minds and fearless dreams cross my path every day. Unfortunately, however, because of the economy, there is a chance that I may be seeing fewer of them. There is a troubling reality for some students. Parents have lost jobs, families have lost health coverage and students face competition for jobs from more experienced workers. And our endowed scholarship accounts show negligible, if any, investment earnings. The one thing that is not down is student need. Our number of scholarship applicants has risen dramatically. The School of Journalism and Mass Communications, for example, saw a 132 percent increase in scholarship requests from continuing students and a 179 percent increase in freshman applicants.

The School of Library and Information Science had 58 applicants competing for its 20 scholarships. Some students, midway through their college careers, suddenly are finding themselves without adequate funding.

The words of a rising senior say it poignantly. “This is the first year I haven’t received a scholarship … but I was just wondering if there is any way to be put on a waiting list in case someone doesn’t accept theirs. I appreciate your patience with me on this. It’s hard to ask about such a sensitive subject but I don’t know if I will able to finish my senior year and graduate if I cannot afford school.”

Beverly Dominick, scholarship coordinator in SJMC, has received numerous similar calls and notes from concerned parents and students. “The economy has greatly affected scholarship requests from our students," Dominick said. Many parents of our students are without employment or they’ve lost their retirement or 401k accounts, which has shifted a greater financial burden to their children.”

The figures are disconcerting enough, but when you know these students — their potential and dreams — it is heartbreaking. The economic black cloud blindsided us this year. And while it is true the Educational Foundation sustained the same payout percentage to colleges as last year, what happens in 2010 remains uncertain. We can, however, take steps now to be better prepared if our alumni and friends join our efforts. These student dreams and ambitions should not be interrupted.

I wonder if you feel the same desire to help that I do? A desire that stems from a personal responsibility? Perhaps that’s fueled in part by a parental instinct to help children — all of our children — develop and succeed. We are, after all, one family. A family united by shared passion for the same university, which sometime in the past claimed us as its children and then set us free to flourish.

So, I have an unusually direct request for an extraordinary time. If your circumstances allow you to help, please consider making a tax-deductible scholarship contribution designated as spendable. Two funds to consider are the SJMC General Scholarship Fund or the SLIS General Scholarship Fund. Your contribution will be applied to student awards next year. For more information, please contact me at (803) 777-6898 or tedixon@mailbox.sc.edu. Thank you.