Kansas Insurance Commissioner
African-American Monumental Life Settlement Scholarship
Application Deadlines:
- May 1: Scholarship applications close for fall semester
- October 1: Scholarship applications close for spring semester
Scholarship Award:
Awards in the amount of $1,000 are available to successful applicants.
Student Qualifications:
- Student must be African-American.
- Student must be currently enrolled in an accredited institution of higher education in Kansas.
- The student must have a designated major in Mathematics, Computer Science or Business with emphasis in accounting, economics, finance or investments.
- Student must have a cumulative college grade point average of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale.
- Student must be available for an interview.
Application Instructions:
- Scholarship Application Form must be completed legibly.
- Supplemental documents required for complete application, include:
- Official transcript of courses completed to date;
- One (1) academic reference letter;
- One (1) page, double spaced, typed essay describing your career goals and how this scholarship would help you achieve those goals.
- Send scholarship application materials to:
Kansas Insurance Department
Attn: Bob Hanson
420 SW 9th St.
Topeka, KS 66612
Contact information: phone 785-296-7807, email bhanson@ksinsurance.org
Background:
The Maryland Insurance Department, during a company examination, identified a problem with the premium rates of Monumental Life Insurance Company (Monumental). The examination revealed that African Americans were charged higher premiums because of their race. As a result, Monumental agreed to a large financial settlement.
As one phase of the agreement, Monumental established an adjustment fund in the amount of $5 million. This portion of the settlement was for those insureds who were entitled to premium adjustments, but for whom Monumental no longer had records. The $5 million adjustment was divided among the states based on Monumental's estimate of the number of affected policies for whom the owners could not be determined. The State of Kansas received $19,149.56 as part of that settlement.
Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger advocated for establishing a scholarship program for Kansas African American college students with the state's share of the settlement. The Kansas Legislature passed a law designating the funds for the program.
The Kansas Insurance Department accepts scholarship applications two times each year. The May 1 application deadline provides funding for the fall semester. The October 1 deadline provides funding for the spring semester.
For additional information, see this African-American Monumental Life Settlement Scholarship flyer.