A nonprofit with offices in St. Peter lays off 17.Scholarship America announced layoffs yesterday of 17 employees company-wide.A spokesperson says the organization offered early retirement and cut salaries to higher paid employees...Something that helped in preventing a higher number of layoffs... but was still a tough decision to make.Assistant Vice President of Communications Janine Fugate says, "I think it's probably hard for every organization when they have to make a decision that affects somebody so personally. Of course as a non-profit we're a mission driven organization and we're all about helping people."Scholarship America has awarded scholarships to over two million students totaling over two billion dollars.