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Class of 2025 Lilly Endowment Community Scholars Program

NEWS BULLETIN

For Immediate Release

David Lasater

June 27, 2024

765-742-9078

Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship – Scholarship Open – Tippecanoe County

The 2025 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship application is now available in Tippecanoe County through The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette.  The Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program (LECSP) will provide 147 scholarships statewide and 3 scholarships in Tippecanoe County.  LECSP scholarships may be used for otherwise unreimbursed full tuition, required fees, and a special allocation of up to $900 per year.  The special allocation may cover the costs for required books and required equipment for four years of undergraduate study on a full-time basis leading to a baccalaureate degree at any eligible Indiana public or private nonprofit college or university.

The program, administered statewide by Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) and locally in Tippecanoe County through the The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette, is open to all Indiana residents who:

  • graduate from an accredited Indiana high school by 2025 and receive their diploma no later than June 30, 2025;
    • intend to pursue a full-time baccalaureate course of study at an eligible college or university in Indiana; and
    • meet the criteria specific to their local community foundation. Visit www.inspiringgreater.org for complete information regarding the Tippecanoe County’s application criteria.

Students can learn more about the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship in Tippecanoe County and apply for this scholarship by visiting www.inspiringgreater.org.  Applications must be completed and submitted by Wednesday, September 11, 2024 at 12pm to be considered.

Applications will be evaluated on, but not limited to, the following criteria: academic achievement, extracurricular and volunteer involvement, volunteer experience, and personal essay.  3 will be nominated by The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette, and their names will be submitted to ICI for final selection of the recipients.  Scholarship recipients will be notified in December.

Lilly Endowment created LECSP for the 1997-98 school year and has supported the program every year since with tuition grants totaling more than $490 million. More than 5,300 Indiana students have received Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships since the program’s inception.

The primary purposes of LECSP are: 1) to help raise the level of educational attainment in Indiana; 2) to increase awareness of the beneficial roles Indiana community foundations can play in their communities; and 3) to encourage and support the efforts of current and past Lilly Endowment Community Scholars to engage with each other and with Indiana business, governmental, educational, nonprofit and civic leaders to improve the quality of life in Indiana generally and in local communities throughout the state.

The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette has been pleased to offer LECSP since 1998 in Tippecanoe County. “The Lilly Endowment Community Scholars Program Scholarship provides students in our community the opportunity to attain a high-quality Indiana education without financial burden. We are proud to play a role in this program again this year,” says David Lasater, the James Kirby Risk President and CEO of The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette.

The Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette, established in 1970, serves the Tippecanoe County area. Its mission is to inspire, nurture, and practice philanthropy, stewardship, and leadership in the communities served.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community developmenteducation and religion. The Endowment funds significant programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion. However, it maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.

Since 1997, Independent Colleges of Indiana has administered the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program statewide with funding provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. Founded in 1948, ICI serves as the collective voice for the state’s 29 private, nonprofit colleges and universities. ICI institutions employ over 22,000 Hoosiers and generate a total local economic impact of over $5 billion annually. Students at ICI colleges have Indiana’s highest four-year, on-time graduation rates, and ICI institutions produce 30 percent of Indiana’s bachelor’s degrees while enrolling 20 percent of its undergraduates.