High school juniors open scholarship fund

Instead of looking at colleges and filling out applications, two high school juniors have raised $63,000 to help University students pay their tuition bills.
Alex Sonageri and Adam Schwartz from Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale, N.J. created the Rutgers University Emergency Scholarship Fund in their freshman year of high school and provided aid to four University students from all three campuses when they needed it most.
“These students aren’t the ones who never had the money,” Schwartz said. “These are students that were once able to pay their tuition and then experienced a financial tragedy such as being unemployed.”
Sonageri said their fund covers tuition needs for up to one semester for undergraduate N.J. residents. In most of the cases, the University is able to provide aid, but the long and tedious process makes it difficult for the students to pay in the interim.
“Our fund provides a bridge to other resources,” he said. “We’ll provide tuition for up to one semester, and at that point, the student is expected to either find another financial aid to help their situation, or Rutgers will help them with financial aid, so we try to be as efficient as possible.”
Schwartz said they do not have a say in who receives the money — the Office of Financial Aid and University Guidance Department selects the eligible students.
“That’s a noble venture to take on, and I hope that it goes to students that need it,” said Giselle Silvestrini, a School of Arts and Sciences first-year student.
Schwartz said the idea came up when his sister, a 2006 University alumna, contacted the school about some financial questions, but the adviser said it was a bad time to call because it was deregistration day — when students drop out because they can no longer afford tuition.
“When it came time to do my community service, I figured why not raise money for students at Rutgers who are on this list so we could fund their education,” Schwartz said. “We first met with the administration at Rutgers to draft a fund agreement and then we drafted a contract and finalized it.”
Sonageri said they showed a presentation they designed to the presidents of businesses in the area to ask for donations. They feel local businesses can relate more to the University.
“We basically just have to ask them for money, and we don’t ask for anything in return, and we have had fantastic responses,” he said.
Sonageri said this is one problem they face.
“We’ve gotten used to it now because we’ve been fundraising for over a year now, but it’s never easy to ask someone to give you something just out of the goodness of their heart,” he said. “But we have identified with our donors, and they’ve identified with our fund and felt it’s a good cause, so we’ve been lucky.”
So far, none have turned them down, Sonageri said.
Schwartz said even the economy has not slowed their donations. What has been difficult is balancing fundraising with other extracurricular activities such as sports.
“People realize that even with such a bad economy, it creates a greater need for charitable giving,” he said.
Schwartz said when the foundation reaches $100,000, they can endow the fund so it can pick up interest annually and the principle would never change.
“But that’s not a means to an end for us,” Schwartz said. “We’re going to keep on fundraising after the $100,000 is reached.”
Both said it is too early to decide if they will come to the University, but it is not out of the question.
Anyone interested in donating can e-mail ruemfd@aol.com.