BBB Awards Book Scholarships to Veterans Attending Area Colleges

Better Business Bureau of Central New England and its Consumer Education Foundation are pleased to announce they have awarded $4,000 in textbook scholarships to eight veterans and military service members attending area colleges.

Congratulations to the winners:

• Mark Blease of Worcester - Quinsigamond Community College
• Angela Bhowmik of Leominster - Fitchburg State University
• Nicole Leeper of Clinton - Mount Wachusett Community College
• James Chesnis of Ludlow - Springfield Technical Community College
• Valentin Titenko of West Springfield - Springfield Technical Community College
• Nicholas Hultine of Granville - Westfield State University
• Jason Richard of Granby - Westfield State University
• Matthew Tsatsos of Westfield - Westfield State University

To be eligible for the $500 textbook scholarship, students were asked to test their financial literacy with a savvy consumer quiz and subscribe to the BBB’s “Trusted Scout” Military Consumer Newsletter. They also needed to attend a college or university located in the BBB of Central New England service area of Central and Western Massachusetts and Northeastern Connecticut.

“These scholarships not only help veteran and military service members with their college expenses, but also increase their financial literacy,” said Nancy B. Cahalen, President and CEO of BBB of Central New England. “We want to do our part to prevent service members and veterans from being targets for fraud.”

Funded in part by BBB Accredited Business dues and in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense Financial Readiness Campaign, the BBB's Military Line program works to increase the level of financial literacy within military communities and reduce the number of military personnel who fall victim to predatory practices such as high interest auto loans, expensive insurance sales, risky real estate deals and work-from-home scams. Specific programs include financial readiness training, fraud and scam alerts, company and charity reviews, and dispute resolution services.

Learn more about BBB Military Line.

ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, the Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2017, people turned to BBB more than 160 million times for BBB Business Profiles on more than 5.2 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. There are local, independent BBBs across the United States, Canada and Mexico, including BBB serving Central New England, which was founded in 1940 and serves 225 communities in Worcester, Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Berkshire counties, as well as parts of Middlesex County, and seven towns in Connecticut.