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The summer before his senior year at Wabash, Mike McGinley's father mentioned offhandedly that his financial aid would be reduced by $5,000 that year. Though his father was not concerned, Mike '93 knew that as the oldest of five children, his brothers and sister would soon have college bills too.
"My first week back, I met with the financial aid office," Mike remembered. "With my involvement on campus, I asked if there was possibly any extra grant I could qualify for?"
His doggedness paid off. "Two weeks later, my parents got a letter indicating an extra $5,000 in aid."
That sum symbolized to Mike everything his parents sacrificed so he and his siblings could earn high-quality college educations. He and his wife Heather decided to give back to Wabash and honor his parents by creating the Mike & Ann McGinley Family Scholarship.
The scholarship, starting next fall, will award $5,000 annually to a Wabash freshman, renewable each year through graduation for a total of $20,000 during their time on campus. Because such donations can be customized, the McGinleys want the scholarship to be awarded to students with demonstrated financial need from Catholic high schools in either Indianapolis or Madison, Wisconsin. Mike's mother graduated from Edgewood High School in Madison, and the hope is to attract Wabash men from a new geographic area, while also helping the more competitive landscape in Indianapolis.
Through their work with David Troutman, Wabash's director of planned giving, Mike and Heather will fund the scholarship annually, while also naming Wabash as the owner and beneficiary of a permanent life-insurance policy. Additionally, they have included Wabash in their wills, and with the combination of annual gifts, the bequest, and life insurance, the scholarship will endow in perpetuity.
Mike and Heather created this scholarship out of the joy of giving, which comes naturally for their family. Mike, as the founder of McGinley Reitz Financial with the Private Client Group of Northwestern Mutual, has a long history of volunteer fundraising for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Heather has devoted the past 23 years to raising their five children and volunteering often at charities, like the Cathedral Soup Kitchen, Second Helpings, and St. Vincent de DePaul.
"We feel that a combination of giving to impact today and tomorrow is best," Mike said. "There are needs now. Deferred gifts matter for endowment purposes, but Wabash and its students need help today too."
For the McGinleys, giving back to Wabash is a family affair.
"Not many families have four Wabash grads in the same generation, which says a lot about our parents and the goodness of the College," says Mike, whose brothers David '98, Patrick '00, and Sean '02 are also proud Wabash graduates.
Beyond this scholarship, the family's focus on higher education continues. Heather and Mike's oldest daughter Grace graduated this year from the University of Dayton, Moira is a junior at DePauw, Anna is a sophomore at UD, Rose is a senior in high school and currently applying to universities. Their youngest, Michael, is a high school junior with Wabash on his college list.
Through the scholarship, the McGinley family honors their Wabash past while protecting Wabash's future, ensuring that Mike and Ann McGinley's devotion to their children's educations will be paid forward indefinitely.
