Through the KSURA, retirees volunteer at commencement, attend sporting events and concerts, tour new campus facilities, and make educational trips to museums. With a Retirees Association ID card, retirees can access the Employee Fitness Center and enjoy the discounts many local businesses give to the KSU family. Giving back to KSU is just as important to the KSURA Steering Committee as planning social or educational events. In January 2011, the committee created the KSU Retiree Legacy Scholarship, which provides financial assistance for undergraduate and graduate level students who are related to a KSU retiree. Today, over $24,000 in cash and pledges has been contributed to this scholarship. Five $1,000 scholarships have been awarded since fall semester 2011.
With 10,000 Baby Boomers retiring every day in America, the movement by colleges and universities to establish a formal outreach to retired faculty and staff is growing. AROHE (Association of Retiree Organizations in Higher Education) is a national organization formed in the last decade to help retirees and employees build and sustain programming. Here in Georgia, a state-wide coalition of retiree organizations is now crafting bylaws under the name GA- HERO, (Higher Education Retiree Organizations). The KSURA will be hosting the next meeting of these 16 colleges and universities in April. programs and prescription assistance that may be available to them.