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Students Begin to Benefit from Anonymous Donations

Students Begin to Benefit from Anonymous Donations
10/19/2009
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Scholarships.com Staff

During the 2008-2009 academic year, an anonymous donor gave over $100 million to 20 colleges and universities nationwide. A large portion of the donated money was earmarked for university scholarships, specifically for minorities and women. Now, schools are beginning to spend the money, and The Chronicle of Higher Education is charting where the money is going.

So far, over 3,700 students at 15 schools have benefited from the money in some way, ranging from $100 book grants to scholarship awards of $5,000 per year or more. Students are also receiving indirect benefits of the donated money, as schools are using some of the discretionary funds to close gaps in their budgets left by reduced state spending and endowment losses, as well as to build up student resources and better support faculty research.

Primarily, though, the money is going towards scholarships. In addition to the funds already awarded, several of the schools plan to unveil scholarship programs in 2010, or to expand scholarship opportunities already offered through funding from the anonymous donor. Need-based and merit-based academic scholarships are being expanded or created and will reach out to students ranging from urban students attending Purdue University to military spouses at the University of Maryland University College.

A number of the colleges are looking for ways to jumpstart permanent endowed scholarship funds with the anonymous donations. Michigan State University and the University of Hawaii at Hilo are both starting matching-grant funds to encourage more donations for endowed scholarships on their campuses. California State University at Northridge is hoping to ultimately support 50 students a year through a freshman honors scholarship program begun with the donated money.

These generous donations from an anonymous source are changing students' lives nationwide and making paying for school easier. Universities are hoping that news of the donations and the continued good they're doing will spur others to give generously to scholarship programs. In the meantime, though, many individuals and organizations are already offering sizeable amounts of scholarship money to a wide range of deserving students. Conduct a free scholarship search to see some of these opportunities that may benefit you.

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