NAACP launches this year's scholarship campaign

NAACP launches this year's scholarship campaign

Sallie Mae - a provider of student loans - reports that more than $168 billion in financial aid was available during the 2008-2009 academic year. Much of these funds were awarded to minority students who demonstrated academic excellence and financial need.

In an effort to provide more students with access to education, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) Scholarship Program is accepting applications for next year's tuition assistance initiative.

Over the past several years, the program has assisted civil rights leaders such as Marion Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund; Congressman James Clyburn and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee; and Nicole Austin-Hillary, director and counsel of the Brennan Center for Justice.

Karen Thompson, director of LDF's Scholarship Programs, said that the organization has helped students achieve their educational goals with undergraduate and law scholarships for over fifty years. She added that LDF is proud to assist the next generation of civil rights defenders in pursuing their degrees at the nation's top universities.

By Mark Danson