Northeast Catholic Alumni Memorial Scholarship Fund, Inc.

The Fund was founded on April 30, 1968, by then Alumni Association President Leonard F. Knobbs, '53, to award tuition assistance grants to graduating seniors from NECHS to attend Allentown College of St. Francis deSales (now deSales University). The Fund was granted Articles of Incorporation by Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Griffiths on January 22, 1969. On February 13, the IRS granted the Fund tax exempt status as a charitable organization. The Fund is administered by a Board of Trustees consisting of all past presidents of Northeast Catholic Alumni Association, Inc.

In 1973, the Board of Trustees expanded the number of colleges to also include LaSalle, St. Joseph's, Villanova, and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.

A major change was enacted in 1977 when the Trustees established grants to be awarded to the son/daughter of a dues paying alumnus to attend one of the approved colleges and a grant was established to partially underwrite the tuition of a Freshmen entering Northeast Catholic High School.

Over the years, the number of tuition assistance grants and their annual value was increased until in 1992 the Fund was awarding $106,000 annually to four college students and twenty-one Northeast Catholic students. Faced with the threatened closure of Northeast Catholic, the Board of Trustees responded by suspending future college grants and increasing the number of tuition assistance grants awarded to incoming Freshmen at NECHS to 57 with an annual value of $165,000.  By 2008, the Trustees had increased the value of the grants being awarded to $250,000 annually to incoming Freshmen at NECHS.

With the closure of Northeast Catholic High School, the Board of Trustees made the following changes.  Commencing with the grants awarded in 2010, $250,500 will be awarded annually as follows:  Six grants to attend specific universities/colleges; Fifteen grants to attend specific high schools; and eleven grants to attend specific parochial grade schools.  For complete details on the schools and eligibility requirements go to the News page.

The college and high school grants are payable over four years in equal semi-annual installments and the grade school grants over three years in equal semi-annual installments directly to the institution on the students' behalf.

Since its inception, the Fund has expended in excess of $3.87 million in helping young men and women further their Catholic education. The bulk of this, over $3.16 million went to underwrite tuition for students at Northeast Catholic High School.  In fact, we are still paying tuitions for young men who began their academic careers at NECHS and due to closure are now attending other archdiocesan high schools.  Among the other Catholic educational institutions that have been major recipients are:  LaSalle, St. Joseph, and Villanova Universities; and Father Judge and Roman Catholic High Schools.

Tax deductible donations may be sent to the Fund at P. 0. Box 7005, Philadelphia, PA 19149-0005.