Students, scholarships, and a way you can help

March 11, 2021/Products, Regulations/

It is interesting that I came across this article as I was thinking of a topic for today’s column. One of the items that I have been thinking about lately was the COVID relief bill that passed the Senate last weekend and passed the House on Wednesday. It is expected to bring $1.9 trillion in aid to a multitude of different areas of our economy. Part of that aid is expected to go to colleges and universities to help both with their COVID related financial losses and directly to certain students to help with some of their costs.

I’ve also been preparing this week for my final meeting as a member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents after a six year stint on that board.

Thinking of the COVID relief bill, the Board of Regents meeting, and a column for a death care related journal may seem like a awkward triangular situation of thought to many of you. However, the above linked article, entitled “Don’t cut state aid based on majors” somewhat brought all of those thoughts together for me. Couple that with e-mail exchanges and discussions with Funeral Director Daily readers who have college students and/or younger students and are saving for college, and you may get an idea why my mind went here.

Putting these thoughts into a death care business realm I think at this point in time the funeral and cemetery industry is in excellent shape as to the education of our future work force. The mortuary colleges are in excellent educational shape and the opportunity for graduates is probably as good as it has been in the past 40 years. . . . there seems to be an abundance of job openings out there.

And, those openings appear to be (literally) all over the map and in all sizes of death care businesses. Mortuary Science graduates seem to have a pick of working in a small town family owned funeral home or going to work for one of the public companies which, in today’s world, can give opportunities for advancement up a corporate ladder.

Finally, more so than ever before, there is financial scholarships that are increasingly available to educate the new bright young minds entering funeral service. Check out the Funeral Service Foundation if you know a person interested in a funeral service education or, better yet, check out the Funeral Service Foundation to make a donation and help a young person along the way to financing that funeral service education.

The International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association has also been very active in raising money and providing scholarships to many aspects of death care education. Click here to learn more about their Education Foundation.