Business students to get scholarships from bank

A $2 million endowment from Chevy Chase Bank will provide scholarships for business students who transfer from Montgomery College to the University of Maryland’s campuses at either College Park or Shady Grove in Rockville.

Chevy Chase Bank had the most deposits in Montgomery County of any financial company — $5.1 billion last year, or 24.3 percent of market share, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The bank has a long history of involvement with higher education institutions. In 1998, it donated $500,000 to the University of Maryland to create a master of business administration fellowship program, and it sponsors many athletic programs there.

In addition, Chevy Chase and Montgomery College began a program about a year ago that has placed almost 100 students in jobs with the company. Student benefits include tuition reimbursement for their Montgomery College courses.

‘‘Our gift is part of an ongoing mission to support the residents of Montgomery County — and that includes helping members of our community gain access to the best educational and career opportunities possible,” B. Francis Saul II, CEO of Chevy Chase Bank, said in a statement.

Some $500,000 of the bank’s gift will support an internship program to prepare students for business leadership positions. The first group of interns will begin work this fall.

Chevy Chase’s gift will help the University of Maryland further two key goals of improving financial assistance for students and access to the university for Montgomery College students, University of Maryland President C.D. Mote Jr. said.

A key goal of Montgomery College, a two-year community college, is to help students transfer to four-year institutions, and the Chevy Chase gift will go a long way toward that goal, said Montgomery College President Charlene R. Nunley.

‘‘One of the primary obstacles facing our students who transfer to four-year universities is the cost of continuing their education,” Nunley said in a statement.

The college had 22,254 students last fall, and last year 5,139 graduates attended 444 four-year institutions in 48 states, according to the college. The most popular transfer choice was the University of Maryland, College Park, with 1,563 students, followed by the University of Maryland, University College (568) and University of Maryland, Baltimore (496).

Montgomery College has helped develop similar transfer scholarships before, but they are difficult to come by, said Steve Simon, a college spokesman.

‘‘Institutions tend to use their scholarships for incoming freshmen,” he said. ‘‘There are encouraging signs that is changing.”

Montgomery College’s transfer students have done as well or better than students who have gone through the four-year universities their entire time, Simon said. ‘‘We know we give them a good preparation,” he said.

Recipients must be taking business classes and making satisfactory progress toward the completion of a bachelor’s degree with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business at either the Universities at Shady Grove or in College Park.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.