Nebraska Cooperative Council Education Foundation Awards Scholarships
The Nebraska Cooperative Council Education Foundation (NCCEF) has awarded 11 scholarships totaling $36,500 for the 2026/27 academic year to students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NCTA) at Curtis, and the University of Nebraska-Kearney (UNK).
The NCCEF scholarship program was initiated for the 1993/94 academic year with funding from voluntary contributions from the agricultural cooperatives which are members of the Nebraska Cooperative Council. Since the program’s inception, 273 scholarships totaling $437,700 have been awarded.
To be eligible for the scholarships, students must be majoring/minoring in agribusiness or agricultural economics at UNL, agribusiness or ag production systems at NCTA, or agribusiness at UNK. Eligibility is restricted to sons/daughters of a parent/legal guardian who has been an active voting member, director, or employee for at least the prior three years of a cooperative which has been a member in good standing of the Council for at least five years. The NCCEF 2026/27AY recipients are:
Recipients of a $2,500 NCCEF Scholarship in Honor of Michael S. Turner
✧ Kyra Jespersen, daughter of Derrick & Cassie Jespersen of Hemingford, will be a sophomore at NCTA majoring in agribusiness. The Jespersen’s are members of Legacy Co-op headquartered in Scottsbluff where Derrick serves on its board, Westco headquartered in Alliance and Panhandle Rural Electric Corp headquartered in Alliance.
“The Nebraska Cooperative Council Education Foundation is honored to provide students with financial support, allowing them to be able to study agricultural business/economics. Education is one of the fundamental cooperative principles, and this program continues to be an important part of our efforts to help youth understand the cooperative way of doing business and interest them in pursuing careers in the agricultural industry here in Nebraska,” according to Dave Beckman, Foundation Board Chairman.
The purposes of the Nebraska Cooperative Council Education Foundation are to promote and encourage high school graduates to pursue higher education in the agricultural and agribusiness fields through scholarships and the implementation of school-to-work programs with participating Nebraska cooperatives; to encourage high school graduates to remain in Nebraska in agricultural pursuits all of which will result in community betterment; and the preservation of agriculture as a way of life.