The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges                      
250 E. Broad St., Suite 1700
Columbus, Ohio 43215-3722

For more information contact Lynne Briggs or Cheryl Kight at
614-469-1950 or briggs@ofic.org, kight@ofic.org

BELLEFONTAINE RESIDENT, RECIPIENT OF SCHOLARSHIP FROM
THE UPS FOUNDATION, INC., PURSUING DEGREE IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE
AT URBANA UNIVERSITY

Leaha Bradley, from Bellefontaine, Ohio is a senior at Urbana University studying Criminal Justice.  She is the recipient, for the second year, of a scholarship from The UPS Foundation, Inc. through The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges’ Ohio Scholars Program. 

Leaha, who supports herself financially, says that she struggles to balance working two jobs with carrying a full time college class load and maintaining a cumulative 3.84 GPA.  “Without scholarships like this one,” she wrote to her scholarship donor, “I would never be able to achieve my dream of one day helping less fortunate youths in my community”.  One of three siblings, Leaha appreciates her parents’ helping her and her brother and sister as much as possible with their finances until they are able to bear the full responsibility on their own.  “This scholarship,” she says, “helps me tremendously, and I know my family is sincerely grateful as well.  We help each other as much as we can, but with three children paying for college at the same time, things can get stressful.  So I thank you very much for your helping hand.” 

OFIC is the primary corporate and foundation solicitation organization for 34 independent Ohio colleges and universities and operates one of the largest, most comprehensive and diverse scholarship management services in the state.  OFIC member colleges collectively enroll nearly 97,000 students and award one-third of all bachelor’s degrees in the state. For 58 years OFIC has worked to highlight the leadership, value and excellence of independent higher education and has provided unrestricted operating funds and scholarship commitments through funds raised in annual solicitations of businesses and foundations, thereby assuring continuation of excellence in private higher education. OFIC is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of Ohio’s corporate leaders, as well as presidents of the 34 member colleges.

The member colleges are:  Ashland University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Bluffton University, Capital University, Cedarville University, University of Dayton, Defiance College, Denison University, The University of Findlay, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Franklin University, Heidelberg College, Hiram College, John Carroll University, Kenyon College, Lake Erie College, Lourdes College, Malone University, Marietta College, Mount Union College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Muskingum College, Notre Dame College, Oberlin College, Ohio Dominican University, Ohio Northern University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein College, Urbana University, Ursuline College, Walsh University, Wilmington College, Wittenberg University and The College of Wooster.