Pulling Out Is The Worst Method: Texas Ford Dealerships Pull Out Of “Salute To Education” Scholarship Program

Due to the company’s financial woes, Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealerships around Texas’ Valley area are withdrawing their support in this year’s “Ford Salute to Education” scholarship - one of the area’s biggest source of financial aid for local students. Dealership owners blame the company’s credit division for the decision not to donate their usual contribution to the scholarship, leaving dealerships to cover the costs themselves with what nickels, fancy buttons and bits of tinsel they can round up.

This comes on the heels of news that Ford Motor Co. — along with Chrysler and General Motors — would like to get in on the government bailout action in order to save, according to their estimates, something around 3 million jobs.

The “Ford Salute to Education” scholarship is awarded to students in the Latino-heavy states of Texas, California and Florida and has helped thousands of students afford an education they would otherwise have been hard-pressed to pursue. News that certain dealerships in Texas were pulling out of the scholarship this year left many students to point out the hypocrisy and mismanagement of the automotive industry:

McAllen High School senior Justin Perez said hearing about the scholarship withdrawal made him angry. The 18-year-old said he knew of many students who graduated before him who received money for school and a car or computer.

Justin said he understands the auto industry is suffering financially, but not enough to where it can’t offer scholarships to students.

“You see on the news CEOs flying to meetings. It’s kind of frustrating when you could be doing something else with that money,” he said.

Like setting it on fire. Texas students can rest assured that participation in the scholarship hasn’t been withdrawn state-wide. Dealerships in San Antonio, Coastal Bend, Victoria and Laredo will continue to offer the “Salute to Education” scholarship while eating suckling pig served by women dressed as sexy robots.

In the meantime, disgruntled students can head over to the scholarship’s official site (Which, as of this posting, contains numerous technical glitches that do not allow to select any option other than “Home” and “Contact Us.” As in, we suppose, “Make sure you contact us from home because your ass sure as hell isn’t going off to college.”) and take this fun, interactive quiz:

Local Ford dealerships pull out of scholarship program [The Monitor]
Salute to Education - Texas [Official Site]