Seven college-bound members of the $200 million Houston Texas Fire Fighters Federal Credit Union will start the fall 2015 school season off with a $1,000 scholarship from their credit union.

The scholarships, announced in early June, were awarded on the basis of character, demonstrated leadership, community involvement and an essay and personal interview by the panel of scholarship judges.

The scholarships were more lucrative this year for two students at the $815 million United Community Heritage Credit Union in Austin. The winners were selected based on their academic performance, outstanding community service, extracurricular activities and a demonstrated commitment to credit unions' people-helping-people philosophy.

United Heritage Scholarship Foundation, the credit union's philanthropic branch, presented the awards on May 2. More than $80,000 in scholarships has been awarded and 21 scholarship recipients honored over the scholarship program's 15-year history.

A total of $30,000 in scholarship funds was presented this year by the $1.7 billion EECU (formerly Educational Employee Credit Union) in Fort Worth. Chartered in 1934 to serve the city's educational community, it's only logical that the Glenn Mandeville Memorial Scholarship program would form a large part of EECU's community giving program.

Named for a former, longtime Fort Worth educator and EECU board member, the Mandeville program on May 19 awarded six scholarships worth $5,000 each. Three of this year's recipients are pursuing degrees in education, while the other three are pursuing degrees in biomedical engineering, international business affairs and nursing.

"We have a long history of supporting education in our community through our scholarship program and other efforts throughout the year," EECU President/CEO Lonnie Nicholson said. "We're proud to support these students' endeavors and we're confident that all six of them will do great things with their educations."

Since its inception, the Mandeville Scholarship program has awarded more than $420,000 in scholarships to high school seniors in the area.

Educational support also was also the theme for recent honors granted to Texas Trust Credit Union in Mansfield, Texas. The $880 million institution on May 26 was named Community Partner of the Year by the Cedar Hill (Texas) Independent School District.

The award was presented for Texas Trust's in-kind monetary contributions to the district, which over the past six years have totaled more than $200,000. The credit union's Spirit Debit Reward card was the key fundraising tool that fueled the program. The funds were used to purchase materials and fund programs for both students and their teachers, according to CHISD Superintendent Orlando Riddick.

Read more: One of state's most charitable gifts involved a medical center at the University of Texas …

"This award is our way to honor Texas Trust for the work they do, from connecting our students with real-world learning opportunities to sponsoring our back-to-school convocation," Riddick said. "Texas Trust is truly a partner in education and we are thankful for their commitment to Cedar Hill ISD."

For some credit unions, community support goes further back in time, and education has also played a role in the $365 million Community Resource Credit Union in Baytown. As an active member in Baytown Chamber's partners in Education, CRCU was named Partner of the Year in both 2005 and 2010 for investing hundreds of staff hours and thousands of dollars in Lamar Elementary School and its students.

CRCU has also donated to multiple education foundations, including providing supplies to school teachers at the beginning of each school year, and has raised $177,920 for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life since 2003.

One of the state's most impressive charitable gifts came from University Federal Credit Union in Austin. In August 2014, the $1.9 billion credit union donated $1.5 million toward the construction of the Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas.

The $50 million facility will be the center of a new Austin downtown medical district and serve as the primary training site for students at The University of Texas at Austin's Dell Medical School. The new hospital, scheduled to open in 2017 in partnership with the medical school and Central Health, Travis County's health care district, will provide for more doctors and specialized care, and improve health care delivery in Central Texas.

"Our university partners produce talent critical to continued growth, vitality and quality of life, which of course generates more long-term business opportunities for a not-for-profit cooperative such as ours," UFCU President/CEO Tony Budet said. "By aligning UFCU's human, financial and other resources with those of higher education in Austin, we become an active participant in a virtuous circle. It's a beautiful thing and we're grateful to be a part of it."

While the $1.5 million was UFCU's single largest charitable donation, it's just one part of the credit union's commitment to Central Texas' higher education and healthcare communities, according to Sheila Jo Wojcik, UFCU's senior vice president of communications and corporate affairs.

UFCU has many of its charitable donations under contractual obligations, some of which span more than a decade, Wojcik said. The largest of those agreements is a 15-year commitment of $1 million annually in support and for the naming rights of the UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the home of the University of Texas Longhorns.

UFCU provides $125,000 in scholarship and academic program funding to Texas State University in San Marcos, a multi-year agreement that will total $625,000 when it ends in 2018. The credit union also donated $50,000 both this year and last year to the UT-Dell Medical School, amounts in addition to the $1.5 million Seton Medical Center donation.

This year also will see a $30,000 scholarship donation to the University of Texas in Galveston, a $25,000 donation to St. Edwards University in Austin to support international student travel, and $10,000 in scholarship funding to Texas A&M University in Round Rock.

UFCU's charitable support last year totaled $1.3 million, or 10% of the credit union's net earnings, Wojcik said.

"Our vision is a higher education community made strong through shared values and high-impact relationships," she added. "And part of those high-impact relations are donations to higher education and healthcare."