SAN MATEO, Calif., May 21, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Bills.com, part of the Freedom Financial Network, is awarding its annual college scholarship to Emily Merrill of Louisville, Kentucky.
Bills.com awarded a $2,500 college scholarship to Merrill for her essay response to the question, "How are you planning on paying for college?" A selection committee from the company chose Merrill's essay from more than 100 finalists for its thoughtfulness, completeness, quality and grammatical accuracy.
Merrill, who is homeschooled through the Louisville-based Christian Educational Consortium, will graduate this month. She carries a 4.0 GPA, and is a member of the National Honor Society, Kentucky Junior Classical League and National Junior Classical League. A 2018 Kentucky Governor's Scholar, she also has received the Louisville Youth Choir Excellence Award. Merrill is an award-winning archer, and has competed in National Archery in the Schools Program state, national and world archery tournaments. She has been accepted to, and plans on attending, Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
Bills.com sponsored the contest as part of the Freedom Financial Network mission to empower people to live healthier financial lives. "A college education can be one of the greatest assets an individual can have," says Brad Stroh, co-CEO of Bills.com. He points to studies that show a college graduate could earn $1 million more than a high school graduate over his or her lifetime. "The cost of college, though, can put a severe drain on the financial future of some of our nation's most talented young adults," he continues. "The Bills.com scholarship seeks to help defray some of these costs, and is a small step in getting young adults to focus on how the decisions they make today impact their long-term financial health."
Daniel Cohen, managing editor of Bills.com, echoes Stroh's comments, "We are impressed by Emily's focus on her financial health, we respect her goal of graduating from college without debt, and we admire her exemplary effort." Emily is receiving merit-based scholarship funds from Baylor and has applied for nearly 60 private scholarships, according to Cohen, with Bills.com not being the first to recognize her excellence. She also plans to apply to be a resident assistant at Baylor, after her freshman year, to defray costs.
The scholarship contest was open to graduating high school seniors, as well as college freshmen, sophomores or juniors who planned to enroll in full-time undergraduate study during the 2019-2020 academic year at an accredited two- or four-year college or university in the United States. Applicants were required to have a minimum grade point average of 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale), and be a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident.
"The number of exceptional entries Bills.com received was impressive," says Stroh. "Each submission highlighted the time, effort and long-term approach students are taking to fund their college education. The applications we reviewed were sincere, heartwarming and humbling."
Bills.com (http://www.bills.com)
Bills.com is part of the Freedom Financial Network®, a family of companies whose products and services provide innovative solutions that empower people to live healthier financial lives. The Bills.com resource site provides simple tips, advice and tools – including the Bills.com debt payoff calculator – to help consumers make smart financial decisions.
Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Freedom Financial Network also operates an office in Tempe, Arizona, and employs more than 2,200. The company has been voted one of the best places to work in both the San Francisco Bay area and the Phoenix area for several years.
For more information, contact Daniel Cohen at [email protected] or 650-393-6356.
SOURCE Bills.com
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