ECC Foundation Scholarship Thank You Letter

Thank you letter requirements

Addressee and Due Date for Thank You Letters

Thank you letters should be returned to:
ECC Financial Aid & Scholarships Office, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin, IL 60123.

Letters may be mailed to that address or delivered via ECC interoffice mail or personally delivered to:
ECC Financial Aid & Scholarships Office, Bldg. B, 1st Floor, Room B-156.

The salutation (“Dear…”) line should be "Dear ECC Foundation Scholarship Donor,"

Thank you letters are required as a condition of your ECC Foundation scholarship award. In years past, the thank you letter was "strongly encouraged" and one year, not long ago, there were over 235 scholarship awards made, and less than 50 thank you notes and letters were received. Needless to say, that was not an acceptable nor accurate reflection upon who we are as a family of ECC students and staff. Therefore, as previously noted when covering the terms and conditions of your scholarship award, your thank you letter must be submitted to the ECC Financial Aid && Scholarships Office (FASO) within 30 days of the receipt of the email notification you receive from the FASO announcing your scholarship award.

Tips For Writing a Good Thank You Letter

The following tips on writing a good thank you letter are not being provided to suggest that no one knows how to write a good letter. It's simply an acknowledgment that in this rapidly advancing technological world that we live in, and with all of the social media at our disposal…texting, skyping, tweeting, blogging, etc…. we as a society and culture have gradually moved away from the more classic art form of letter writing.

Write Clearly and Concisely

While we could probably go on and on sincerely about our appreciation of the scholarship…if the letter becomes more than a page long, it's probably too long for a thank you letter.

Double-check For Typos and Grammatical Errors.

As mentioned earlier…by now you've found your rhythm in terms of your study habits and what it takes for you to succeed in the classroom. Your process probably includes a step for proofing and reviewing your work before you turn it in. We're simply asking that you review your thank you letter for typos as well before you submit it. Now we've all been there…after reviewing our work so many times that we've lost count, we're finally satisfied and submit the work for review/grading. Later, once it's too late to retrieve the work, we feel compelled to review it one more time…”just because.” And suddenly we find an error that now looks like there's neon lights flashing around it and we wonder how could we have ever missed what now seems like such an obvious typo! Don't worry about that…we're all human and we're not expecting perfection…we're simply expecting you to put forth your best effort on the front-end and proof your letter at least once.

Express Your Enthusiasm Freely and Sincerely

An old customer service adage in telephone etiquette says that the person you're speaking to on the phone should be able to “hear” the smile that's on your face while you're talking to him/her. This is intended to emphasize attitude and focus. If we were to apply this adage to your thank you letter…it might go something like this…the reader of your letter should be able to feel your enthusiasm as they read your letter and get a genuine sense of what the scholarship meant to you. This isn't intended to suggest an exaggeration of the facts, just think about what you would say to the donor if you had an opportunity to briefly share face-to-face what you felt about receiving the scholarship.

Send The Letter Typewritten With a Personal Signature If Possible

A typewritten letter with your signature is more personal. Student thank you letters are shared lots of times with lots of people…the ECC Board of Trustees have asked to see the letters, the ECC Foundation's Board of Directors see the letters, and of course the donors. The letters simply look better longer when they're typewritten.