Facilitating Higher Education While Fostering Community Service
Written by Ida Eva Zielinska
Published #74 | Falls 2024 Issue
The 2024 Tzu Chi USA Scholars Award winners from the Tzu Chi USA Northeast Region attend a special ceremony at the Tzu Chi Center for Compassionate Relief in New York. Photo/Martina Casas
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On July 7, 2024, more than a dozen high school graduates gathered at the Tzu Chi Center for Compassionate Relief in Manhattan, New York, for a special award ceremony. Each was to receive a Tzu Chi USA scholarship to help pay for college or university in the upcoming academic year.
As Tzu Chi volunteer Sansan Chiang, who is on Tzu Chi USA Northeast Region’s scholarships team, explained, “Every year is different. This year, we had 15 applicants, and they all qualified to become Tzu Chi’s 2024 Scholars.” At the event, the award recipients were eager to express their gratitude.
I’m ecstatic because this puts my foot into the door of getting higher education, and things like that are rare, especially for many minority communities. It’s going to change everything. Coming from a Latino family and a single mother, there’s always that pressure of money. So not having that during college, it’s just going to make things so much easier for me.
I really like how they help other people just like me because I know in the world you don't get the same hope, and this Foundation really did help me a lot.
I feel very grateful because college is a little expensive, so the $1,500 is a lot for me. I'm going to use it toward my tuition at Pace University.
I was struggling about how to pay for college, so this scholarship is helping me. A lot will go towards my dreams of becoming a psychologist and helping others. I’m so excited.
It is hardly surprising that the scholarship recipients were so thankful for the financial assistance they received to help fund their higher education: Not having an undergraduate degree can significantly impact income, employment, and career prospects in the United States.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in the third quarter of 2023, full-time workers aged 25 and over with a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $905, while those with a bachelor’s degree earned $1,499. Over a lifetime, this difference can accumulate to a substantial gap. The key findings in “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings,” a report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, reveal that a Bachelor’s degree is worth $2.8 million on average over a lifetime, as Bachelor’s degree holders earn 84% more than those with just a high school diploma.
Lack of a higher education also affects employment. BLS data indicates that in February 2022, the unemployment rate for people 25 years and older who were high school graduates with no college was 4.5%, whereas the rate for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher was 2.2%. Yet, while not having an undergraduate degree can limit earning potential, reduce job opportunities, and hinder career advancement, many can’t afford to pursue higher education after high school. It’s not just the tuition, as additional costs such as fees, books, supplies, accommodations, and living expenses can add significantly to the total cost of attendance.
Moreover, such financial constraints concerning college or university continue into adulthood. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, citing the “State of Higher Education 2024 Report” produced by Gallup and Lumina Foundation, concluded that financial barriers are the biggest reasons why U.S. adults without a college degree or credential don’t seek one.
The Tzu Chi USA Scholars Program
Tzu Chi USA’s scholarship program, which began in 1992, recognizes and provides financial assistance to outstanding college-bound high school graduates and continuing undergraduate students who were prior recipients. Tzu Chi USA Scholars are selected based on their financial need, academic achievement, and community involvement. The award is $1,000 in most states, while $1,500 in New York and California due to the higher cost of living.
To be eligible, applicants must demonstrate financial need for college tuition and related expenses and have a minimum 3.0 GPA. Moreover, since fostering social responsibility and volunteerism is among Tzu Chi’s missions, the applicants must also demonstrate a community spirit and readiness to contribute to society and the common good. To do so, they must submit two pieces of personal writing:
- An autobiography explaining why they should be awarded a scholarship, stating the reasons for financial need and how they intend to use the funds; their personal and academic achievements with specific examples; their academic and career plans with specific goals; and their past and current involvement plus plans for making a difference in their community.
- An essay about Tzu Chi, based on the information gathered from websites, publications, news articles, etc., explaining what they’ve learned about Tzu Chi that inspires them and why.
The scholarship is renewable for up to four years. Continuing undergraduate students must provide written proof of completing 50 volunteering hours with Tzu Chi or another non-profit organization during the current academic year when re-applying.
We try to plant a seed in their minds so they will know how to pay back to the community. I think that’s very important. I’m thinking about ‘seed’ as the letters S, E, E, and D. The S stands for sustainability, to continue to do a good job; the first E for enthusiasm, to become very loving and help people; the second E for empathy, to know how to care for others; and the D for determination to help people.
Tzu Chi’s approach certainly resonated with the 2024 scholarship recipients, as Barbara Chisolm, one of them shared at the award ceremony in July: “I remember researching about the scholarship, and I really liked the whole idea of giving back to people and felt that was something I wanted to do. So, I think this organization is amazing: It’s supportive and helps young people while inspiring them to give back.”
Getting to Know the Applicants
The application process for Tzu Chi scholarships is in-depth and personal. The autobiographical essay is often a welcome, even enlightening component. “The essay was very nice because I could talk about my situation, myself, and my family,” Jazmin Alvarez remembers. “I just got to express myself fully on paper. It was definitely a learning experience as well,” Martin Palomeque shared.
Once the scholarship teams in Tzu Chi USA’s nine regions receive the written applications, they evaluate them. Those approved become the official applicants, and home visits or phone interviews follow so the teams can understand each student’s background better and get to know them. In Tzu Chi USA’s Northeast Region, teams visited applicants in Brooklyn, Queens, and upstate New York.
This year, several applicants were from Peekskill in upstate New York. During the visit to her home, Jazmin Alvarez, who will study nursing, proudly told the Tzu Chi team, “Hopefully, in the future, I can provide care for my community.”
Martin Palomeque, who will attend Hunter College and plans to become a teacher, explained, “I want to come back here. I want to help the kids here the same way my teachers helped me.”
John Fernandez told the visiting team about his experience helping with community food distributions. “Years before, my mom would also go and get food, so I wanted to give the food as well,” he said. “When I do get to college, I’m going to be doing criminal justice. Because I know recently there has been a lot of racial stuff happening, and I wanted to help that out.”
Barbara Chisolm, who will attend Binghamton University, expressed her humanitarian concerns, saying, “Further in my career in psychology, I want to start a volunteer thing for therapists to come together and help those people who don’t have insurance and people who can’t afford it.”
As Tzu Chi volunteer Sansan Chiang reflected on the visits in Peekskill and others in the Northeast Region, she marveled at the qualities exhibited by all the applicants: “They are so elegant, they are so nice, and even their family, which supports those children.” The visits are part of the evaluation methodology, yet at the same time, they honor the students and their families, the award ceremony being the crowning moment in the process. In this regard, certain high schools deserve credit as they are also fundamental in finding worthy Tzu Chi scholarship candidates.
A Flourishing Connection in Upstate New York
Students can learn about Tzu Chi USA scholarships online. Still, there’s nothing better than a personal introduction, and that’s what relationships such as those with Maria Gordineer, in charge of the College Resource Center at Peekskill High School, can offer.
Every year since 2015, a Peekskill High School counselor, Ms. Gordineer, has been very nice. She always supports very qualified students in applying for our scholarship. She knows her students well, and she knows Tzu Chi as well, the philosophy.
Tzu Chi, even though it's global, we're still not very well known in the community. So we want someone to introduce their students to Tzu Chi because we are doing good things for everyone.
At the award ceremony, the 2024 scholarship recipients from Peekskill expressed their gratitude and love towards Gordineer, not only for her having introduced the scholarship to them but also for helping guide them through the application procedure. They exclaimed: “The process is long, but she was there to help in every single way. She’ll stay up late, like after hours, just helping you do the application.” “She’s the best. She always helped me with everything.” “All of these students here, it’s because of her. All our success can be attributed to her.”
Gordineer arrived in the United States from Columbia in 2000 and is now a college guidance advisor working with Grade 12 students at Peekskill High School. She discovered the Tzu Chi scholarship one day while exploring online and thought, “Wow, I’m going to call!” That got the ball rolling. “They started communicating with me. I also attended the ceremonies in Queens, bringing along some assistant principals and teachers,” she remembers. “I haven’t stopped with Tzu Chi to this day!”
I think it is good that Tzu Chi supports students since many need it. They come from families who don’t have the means to buy a book or pay for transportation. We’re truly grateful for your support for our high school students.
The 2024 cohort of scholarship recipients is off to a brighter future, yet many others set out on this path before them. Each is contributing to their community in unique ways. Some even work for Tzu Chi, as is exemplified by one previous scholarship recipient in Santa Ana, California.
An Inspirational Story
Sandra Barcenas came to the United States from Mexico with her mother in 2008, when she was just seven years old.
We came here to reunite with her father, but when we arrived, he was no longer here for us. So, we stayed alone, just the two of us. We have faced many challenges. I believe this is why she is so motivated to help others. She knows there have been times when we didn’t have much, but we’ve always made an effort to give back.
Watching her mom as she struggled to support them ingrained a strong work ethic in the little girl. “Because of her hard work and everything, I was able to focus on my studies,” Barcenas explains. At the same time, the two gave back. “My mother would make a lot of donations to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and that just stuck with me. And then we did a lot of community service, too. We volunteered at a homeless shelter. And since then, I have always volunteered within my community.”
Barcenas was an ideal candidate for a Tzu Chi scholarship, and thankfully, she found out about the program in 2019 and applied. “In my high school senior year, I was looking for scholarships and one of them ended up being Tzu Chi,” she recalls. “A lot of scholarships aren’t available to me due to my immigration status, but Tzu Chi didn’t request any immigration status, so I received the scholarship throughout my four years of undergrad studies.”
“She is the first one in our family to go to college and to help many people,” her mother is proud to say. Barcenas completed a double major in political science and legal sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. During her studies, she began by volunteering through the Tzu Chi Collegiate Association at Berkeley. Then it expanded when she noticed a family needing assistance to pay for a funeral and approached Julie Lin, Tzu Chi USA’s charity leader in Orange County, who green-lit the aid for this family. The connection between Barcenas and Tzu Chi only deepened from there.
Sandra Barcenas is such a kind, big-hearted lady, and because of her big heart, not only do we help her, but she helps us more because we need interpreters. So, she started to be a translator for family cases; when local families have difficulties, she helps me by doing translation.
After Barcenas graduated, she began doing immigration research for the Distributed AI Research Institute, which does ethical AI research. “My career aspiration is to help my community.” Then, an opportunity to work part-time with Tzu Chi USA arose, and Lin immediately thought of Barcenas: “Her kind heart is so much a match to our Tzu Chi mission and vision, right?” The position was to be a community liaison focusing on Spanish-speaking communities and working with a Tzu Chi USA partner in California, Listos: The organization’s name, translated from Spanish to English, means “ready.”
This program is basically to prepare communities of color to be ready in case of any disaster or emergency situation, whether that be an earthquake, a flood, or wildfire since they’re more prone here in California. That’s one of the reasons why I ended up helping Tzu Chi within this program, just because within our communities of color, there are a lot of impoverished communities, and I’m actually part of one of them.
For Tzu Chi USA, this is a beautiful and blessed happy ending. As Lin sees it, Barcenas is an excellent example if Tzu Chi wants to continue in the United States. While working for the organization, Barcenas can fulfill her personal goals and dreams of helping the immigrant community at the same time.
We want to have more young people and more local people join Tzu Chi. I understand that those young generations need to make a living, too. So that’s the other thing. We’re looking for opportunities so they can have jobs in Tzu Chi and also carry out their ideas and mission.
In Tzu Chi’s view, Lin says, “We have one world and one family. Although our founder is from Taiwan, it’s not only for Taiwan. It’s supposed to be a global organization, so every place should have a Tzu Chi with local volunteers. That’s what we’re looking for.”
May the Scholarship Program Grow
In 2023, Tzu Chi USA provided $168,500 in financial aid, benefiting 109 students nationwide. And now, in 2024, a new group of Tzu Chi USA Scholars Award winners is beginning their higher education journey, both pursuing their dreams and exploring ways to be of service to society.
Now, it’s our turn to prove to Tzu Chi that they chose the right people by doing great things. Thank you to Tzu Chi for this amazing opportunity. I feel very honored.
I hope they realize how much they're affecting and changing lives and that they continue to do it because it's instrumental. I just want to tell them to keep doing what they're doing. And hopefully, they inspire others as they inspire me.
