College has never been easy to pay for. However, some get the chance to be awarded scholarship money for merit, luck, or other means to help pay for the gargantuan costs of college tuition. Junior Rasel Abutaa has had one of these chances.
“It was a random drawing and to be lucky enough to be drawn was astounding” Abutaa said.
Abutaa won the MasterCard Money Matters National Education Day Scholarship Contest, during a session where representatives from the American Payroll Association, or APA, came to teach Economics and Personal Finance students about the payroll withholding system, paychecks and electronic payment methods such as direct deposit and paycards.
“When I got the scholarship, I was extremely surprised” said Abutaa.
This session, from Sept. 25 through 26, was a nationwide event sponsored by Mastercard and the APA for all students interested in the information provided. After the session, students watched a short video and completed a five- question quiz, which automatically entered them in a chance to win one $5,000 or three $1,000 scholarships, which would be awarded to random participants.
Abutaa was the recipient of one of the three $1,000 scholarships out of the multitude of students that entered in the contest and he plans on using the money from the scholarship to help pay for the college costs.
“ It can be used at any university and any money I get will help ease the debt,” Abutaa said.