FORT WAYNE — Questa Education Foundation has announced its 2019 spring graduating class.

This graduating class includes 70 students from Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Kosciusko, Noble, Steuben and Whitley counties.

These Questa Scholars have received their associate’s or bachelor’s degrees in various fields, and several are already employed in the Northeast Indiana area in companies and organizations such as the University of Saint Francis, Warsaw Community Schools, Weigand Construction, and MedPro Group.

Questa’s partner schools include Grace College, Indiana Tech, Manchester University, Huntington University, Purdue Fort Wayne, Indiana Wesleyan Fort Wayne, Trine University, Ivy Tech Community College, and the University of Saint Francis.

The following students from Kosciusko County have graduated with support from Questa:

• Alyson Anderson, a nursing major at Indiana Wesleyan University.
• Jada Dingeldein, a nursing major at Indiana Wesleyan University.
• Morgan McKee, a mathematics major at Huntington Univesity
• Hailey Ross, a biology major from Huntington University
• Danielle Straits, an educational studies major from Taylor University

The mission at Questa is to invest in talent within the area and help fund their education. In return, these students will be valuable assets to the Northeast Indiana workforce, while also beginning a successful career with less debt, said the group in a news release.

Many of these scholars received low-interest forgivable loans: 50 percent in loan forgiveness for living and working in northeast Indiana for 5 years following graduation, and an additional 25 percent of the total loan is paid back when they attend and graduate from one of the eight partner regional institutions.

The Fort Wayne-based Questa Education Foundation is a non-profit group that helps students with funding for college. The unique part about our program is that we offer not only low-interest on our loan, but the possibility of forgiveness. If a student attends and graduates from a partnering college, then we forgive 25 percent of their loan. If they decided to live and work in the Northeast Indiana area (one of the 11 counties of NE IN), then we will forgive an additional 50 percent, as long as they are here for 5 years. A Questa Scholar’s loan could be 75 percent forgiven.

Potentially, a scholar can borrow $20,000 with the possibility of only having to pay back $5,000, the group said.