Scholarship & Community
Give Back Program

Helping talented young people stay in school

José María Tzib had a tough decision to make. This illiterate, subsistence farmer in the small town of Chamil, Guatemala had to choose between keeping his eldest son, Fredy, in school and using the money to buy food. The family had to eat, which made Fredy’s education an optional luxury.

Fredy's Dream Realized

For Fredy, who dreamed of attending high school, the situation seemed hopeless. And then one day, (“by the grace of God,” as he tells it), Fredy learned about CoEd’s involvement in his community. He earned a scholarship to cover the cost of his middle school education. In turn, Fredy and his fellow scholarship recipients gave back to their community through monthly service projects.

“CoEd is like drops of rain that wet the earth so the plants can grow. I thank you, eternally, for contributing so greatly to my education and my life.”
—Fredy Tzib, CoEd Scholarship Student

Fredy Today

Fredy went on to attend high school (on another CoEd Scholarship) and now studies environmental engineering at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala’s capital. He’s even gaining valuable work experience in his part-time employment in CoEd’s textbook warehouse.

Why Scholarships?

Education Connected to Future Earnings

Education beyond the elementary school level is crucial to reducing poverty in rural Guatemala, where those with a middle school education earn as much as 50% more in income each month than their peers without one.

Dropping Out is Common

In Guatemala, only 20% of youths attend middle school. Deficiencies in educational quality, related to poor teacher preparation and insufficient resources, lead the majority of children to drop out before the sixth grade. Extreme poverty exacerbates the situation. Families cannot afford school fees or the opportunity cost of keeping children in school when those children could work instead.

Scholarships Keep Kids in School

The Cooperative for Education seeks to end the cycle of poverty in rural Guatemala once and for all, by providing children with opportunities to earn scholarships, stay in school, and significantly improve their earning potential over their lifetimes. Furthermore, scholarship students give back to their communities through service projects, while also learning valuable leadership, citizenship, and vocational skills.

How the Program Works

Each year, with the help of sponsors in the U.S., CoEd provides full academic scholarships to 70 indigenous Mayan students in the impoverished community of Santiago Sacatepéquez, Guatemala.

Students Give Back

Beneficiaries of the Scholarship Program give back to their community through ten hours of community service each month. Examples of past community service projects include:

• A town clean-up initiative, which included participation from community members. 
• A tree-planting initiative, to beautify the town and reduce its carbon footprint.
• An organic gardening project, to provide flowers and produce for school functions.

Our Results

In a country where the high-school enrollment rate is a dismal 14%, 100% of students who complete middle school with a CoEd scholarship go on to high school. The CoEd Scholarship Program helps bright and talented young people like Fredy—whose participation in the community clean-up project inspired his love for environmental engineering—stay in school and aspire to a better life, beyond poverty.

• Read more results from CoEd's Scholarship & Community Give Back Program.

• Learn how you can sponsor a scholarship student!