The Student Government Association (SGA) at St. John Fisher College announced Wednesday the creation of a scholarship endowment fund that will award two $1,000 scholarships and a $500 book grant annually.

The Student Activities Fee will fund the scholarships. For the past several years, the money collected from the Student Activities Fee has accumulated. According to Director of Campus Life Tom Rodgers, “Spending it all would not be fiscally responsible.”

Any full-time student who pays the Student Activities Fee is eligible to apply for the scholarships and book grant. While much of the qualifying criteria have been left open-ended, the SGA executive board expects the applicants to provide evidence of their activities and involvement outside of the classroom and to sustain an expected level of academic achievement as well.

“We set up the scholarships to reward those who have shown promise as leaders on campus, and those who successfully demonstrate the virtues we value here at Fisher,” said junior SGA President Steven Moscaritolo.

With the new scholarships, the SGA also set up an emergency loan fund to quickly provide financial aid to students in need at a critical time. The fund was created in response to feedback from administration that indicated there was a demand for an efficient way to help students in an emergency situation.

“We tossed around ideas for a couple of months,” senior Finance Chair Kelly Powers said. “We wanted to give students an initiative to be involved.”

The Student Activities Fee will not increase due to the scholarships, according to Moscaritolo.

“Our student activities fee remains the same year to year and changes only if there is a call for a referendum to change it,” Moscaritolo said. “The funds used to support this endowment have been sitting idle in reserve accounts from years past.”

While most students were unaware of the announcement, freshman Kyle Richards said, “It’s a good idea to give the money back to the students.”

Students will apply in the beginning of the spring semester, and the scholarships and book grant will be awarded for the following fall semester.