Lesko Announces New Scholarship Funded by Those Who Get Too Much Gov't Money

Scholarships for students with financial need to attend Community College in Frederick, Maryland

See News Stories on Fund: 1) TV News   2) Frederick Post Newspaper 

How This Fund Got Started

A few years ago I woke up and said, “Wow, I'm going to be old enough to collect Social Security. How nice.” Then I started thinking a little more about this…I’ve done pretty well for myself. I make a good living and I plan to be doing so for years to come. So, why do I need an extra $2,400 a month in income. It's not going to change my lifestyle. It seems silly to give it back to the government, although Uncle Sam certainly needs it.

There Must Be More People Who Want to Donate Some of this $$

I wondered if there are others like me who may be getting government money but really don't need it and are looking for a place where it will be put to really good use.  Here are some data that shows there are probably many people in my situation:

• 56,587 Millionaires get an extra $2,200/month from Social Security (1)
• 10,851 People making over $500,000/year collect Unemployment Compensation (1)
• Hundreds of thousands of Government Employees who get paid twice for the same job and some making over $400,000/year (2)
• 2/3rds of all Corporations paid ZERO ($0) Taxes from 1998-2005 (3)

Like me, thousands of folks are getting this money legally but it’s probably misplaced considering our country's huge deficit.

Your Investment to Education = $1 Million Lifetime Difference

Every year of higher education increases a person’s value in the competitive work environment.  The data speak for itself:

	High School	Associates	Bachelors	Masters	Professional
Annual Wages (4)	$32,552	$39,572	$53,300	$65,364	$79,508
Unemployment Rate (4)	9.7%	6.8%	5.2%	3.9%	2.3%
Lifetime Earnings (mil) (5)	$1.2	$1.6	$2.1	$2.5	$4.4

The difference between high school graduates with bachelor’s degree in lifetime earnings can be $1 Million. Even if you disagree with the data, you have to agree that education is the key to the U.S. competing in the world economy.

What A Difference $1,000 Can Make

Our community college system is the best investment value in America:

Average Yearly Cost Tuition and Fees (6)
4-Year Private College	$ 27,293
4-Year Public College	$ 7,605
2-Year Community College	$ 2,713

Where I live in the D.C. metro area, there are millionaire lawyers still working full-time and collecting $2,000+ each month from social security and are likely to spend $1,000 on a few dinners at fancy restaurants.  It leads me to think about how far that $1,000 in meals can go towards investing in someone to pursue the education they need to generate an extra $1 Million dollars in income for themselves, their family and our country.

Let's Help Americans Invest In Themselves

I know that if we return this extra government money to Uncle Sam, it is going to wind up in some bureaucratic black hole.  But $1,000 to this Scholarship Fund can pay for most of tuition for a full semester of college and transform the lifetime opportunity for a student to make America better.

Make Your Tax-Deductible Donation Now

Enclosed is	$____________ for “I Don't Need My Government Money Scholarship Fund” Richard Haney, Ed.D. Executive Director “I Don't Need My Gov't Money Scholarship Fund” Frederick Community College Foundation, Inc. 7932 Opossumtown Pike Frederick, MD 21702
Make your check payable to:	FCC Foundation
On Subject or For line:	I Don't Need My Gov't Money Scholarship Fund
If you need further information about the not-for-profit FCC Foundation contact:	Dr. Richard Haney 301-846-2438 foundation@frederick.edu https://www.frederick.edu/foundation
To contact Matthew Lesko:	matthew@lesko.com 301-929-8400 www.lesko.com

Sources:

• http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=133414,00.html
• http://newstalkcleveland.com/cle/basheerjones/double-dipping-state-and-local-employees-collect-paycheck-and-a-pension
• http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08957.pdf
• http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm
• http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p23-210.pdf