Refel Rushing, a prominent Texas-based businessman with extensive experience in creating and directing education-financing businesses, is also a donor to a variety of nonprofit organizations that aid students, people with medical needs, and others. In the 1970s, Ralph “Refel” Rushing and a group of business associates created a model for higher education financing that resulted in innovative legislation in Texas and several other states and within the Internal Revenue Service Code. Refel Rushing, as President and CEO of LoanSTAR Funding Group, Inc., oversaw a corporation that managed $1 billion in federally guaranteed student loans. The company, on behalf of local, county, and state government agencies, was authorized to issue tax-free bonds for the purpose of assembling and administering these loans and worked to aid students and parents in search of affordable options to pay for tuition.
Refel Rushing extended this interest in education by playing a pivotal role in the creation of the Greater Texas Foundation, a charity set up to remove obstacles to higher education. The Foundation has presented more than $1 million to some 30 colleges and universities in the state to be used by prospective students experiencing demonstrated financial hardships. Through the Greater Texas Foundation, Mr. Rushing has also been instrumental in assisting individuals from minority backgrounds by granting hundreds of thousands of dollars to the College for All Texans Foundation.