GENEVA — The Geneva Rotary Club has been making interest-free loans to college students from Geneva for 100 years.
The Student Loan program is one of the Rotary Club’s oldest community service programs. It was established in 1923, just four years after the club was formed, to provide interest-free loans to college-bound students attending Geneva or DeSales high schools. With the closing of DeSales in 2012, the loan program is now limited to Geneva High graduates.
Rotarian Charles Bauder, who heads the club committee in charge of the program, explained that Geneva High seniors are offered the opportunity to borrow up to $1,500 per year while working toward either a two- or four-year degree. Repayment of the interest-free loan begins three months after graduation from college at a minimum of $100 per month. If a student chooses to go on to graduate school, the loan repayment is deferred until completion of the graduate degree.
Bauder said that the loan application, which is on the Geneva Rotary website at genevarotaryclub.org, must be completed and submitted by June 15 and applicants are usually notified of acceptance in early July.
Selected applicants will receive a promissory note to be completed and returned to the Student Loan committee. The note will require the signature of a co-signer, either parent or guardian.
For the first 60 years of the program, outstanding student loans and investments amounted to about $30,000. In the early 1980s, the program received a major donation of $70,000 from the estate of City Judge Nathan Laphman in appreciation for the financial help received attending college. Michael Michaels of Geneva donated $10,000 for the same reason in the 1990s.
Bauder provided some statistics on the loan program. In 1993 the outstanding loan balance was $42,270. During the last 30 years, 680 loans have been awarded totaling $726,400. The outstanding loan balance, as of year-end 2023, was $200,725. During the same period, the investment portfolio of the fund grew from $94,170 to $345,452. The club’s loan portfolio and investments total more than $500,000. Currently there are 41 people in repayment and 26 borrowers still in school.
The program, on a yearly basis, honors two outstanding Geneva High School seniors chosen by the high school administration, with Service Above Self awards of $1,000 in the names of Rotarians and community leaders Paul E. Kirsch and Mary Luckern.
