Scholarship money donated from extra Engineers’ Week and Career Expo funds may help some engineering students deal with next year’s double-digit tuition increase.

The $100,000 in scholarship money was presented Tuesday by Engineers’ Week Co-Chairs Angie Hefner and Ben Olsen, both seniors in chemical engineering, and Engineering Career Expo Chair Jennifer Tapke, senior in industrial engineering.

Both organizations had funds left over, Hefner said, and instead of carrying them over to next year, the members decided to give the money to students.

“We knew we had this extra money, and we wanted it to go some place where it would benefit students,” she said.

Next year’s tuition increase also influenced the decision, Hefner said.

The money was generated from companies that paid to participate in the activities. By donating that money to scholarships, the co-chairs could ensure that those companies would approve of the funds’ recipients, Hefner said.

Recipients must have a 2.5 grade point average and have been leaders in student engineering organizations, Hefner said. All engineering majors will be eligible for the funds, which will be applied during the 2002-2003 academic year.

Larry Hanneman, director of Engineering Career Services, said the money will go to the college’s general scholarship fund and will be distributed through the normal committee process. The scholarships will be divided by grade level, with 30 percent each to seniors, juniors and sophomores, and 10 percent to freshmen. Deadline for applications is 5 p.m. Friday. Applications can be found at www1.eng.iastate.edu/scholarship/form.asp.

“I think it’s a remarkable statement about how these two student organizations have managed to develop and deliver two world-class career fairs,” said Hanneman, adjunct associate professor of Engineering Career Services. It was also remarkable, he said, that the two groups “would be able to make a contribution of this magnitude to the students of Iowa State.”