Help students stay in school during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond

CHICAGO – The financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic have made it much harder for students to realize their dreams.

Learning resource provider OneClass surveyed more than 10,000 students this spring and found some disturbing trends:

• 56% of respondents said they can no longer afford tuition.
• 49% of respondents said they have to find new financing.
• 7% said they are switching gears, leaving school to try something else.

“Student need was high before the pandemic and is now driven higher for many,” said American Institute of Steel Construction President Charles J. Carter, SE, PE, PhD. “We’ve always seen the vitality that the most promising students bring in our future and see now the need to help them continue to learn the tools and skills they’ll need to become outstanding leaders in AEC fields.”

With expanded scholarship programs, the AISC Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization affiliated with AISC, can help them do just that.

Today, we are launching the 30 by 30 Challenge. The goal is simple: raise $100,000 to help 30 students in the next 30 days.

We can’t make it happen without support from the AEC community. On behalf of the AISC Education Foundation, AISC is asking those who are in a position to do so to help tomorrow’s leaders continue their studies. They–and the Foundation–would be so grateful for the assistance.

The 30 by 30 Challenge ends October 22. Visit aisc.org/giving for more information.

About the AISC Education Foundation

Every penny donated to the AISC Education Foundation goes to students, educators, and educational programs. Donations are 100% tax-deductible; the Foundation has no operating or overhead costs.

For the 2020-2021 academic year, the Foundation and its industry partners provided scholarships to 52 full-time undergraduate and master’s-level graduate students studying civil engineering, architectural engineering, construction engineering, construction management, or architecture at colleges and universities in the U.S.

The Foundation also makes sure that the people who make our industry so special can help their own children go to college through the David B. Ratterman Fast Start Scholarships. In 2021, the Foundation will award $76,000 in scholarships to children of (or who share a permanent residence with) those who work at distribution or fabrication facilities of AISC Full Member companies. Freshmen and sophomores studying full time at two- or four-year colleges are eligible.

About the American Institute of Steel Construction
The American Institute of Steel Construction, headquartered in Chicago, is a non-partisan, not-for-profit technical institute and trade association established in 1921 to serve the structural steel design community and construction industry. AISC’s mission is to make structural steel the material of choice by being the leader in structural steel-related technical and market-building activities, including specification and code development, research, education, technical assistance, quality certification, standardization, market development, and advocacy. AISC has a long tradition of service to the steel construction industry of providing timely and reliable information.