LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 19, 2012) — University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto and Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart announced Tuesday at a meeting of the UK Board of Trustees Athletics Committee that the Athletics Department will increase the contribution it makes to academic scholarships to a total of $3 million for the 2012-13 academic year.
This represents an increase of $1.3 million from the $1.7 million annually that UK Athletics has been contributing for the past several years for academic scholarships at the university.
UK Athletics, which is one of the few athletics programs in the country to not receive state General Fund support for its programming, donates millions of dollars back to the university for academic use and programming. For the last several years, a cornerstone of those efforts has been $1.7 million annually for academic scholarships, which includes the Singletary Scholarship program, the university’s most prestigious award. In 2012-13, the number of incoming freshmen being awarded Singletary Scholarships is a record 51 students, up from 34 in 2011-12.
The more than 75 percent increase in the amount of scholarship funding provided by UK Athletics for 2012-13 will enhance the university’s general scholarship fund.
A K Fund and ticket increase for the 2012-13 men’s basketball season also was announced Tuesday.
UK will increase basketball ticket prices by $5 each and boost required donations for some priority seats, according to information presented at Tuesday’s athletics committee meeting.
UK expects to raise about $3.5 million from the increases, which will go to offset rising costs, reports the Lexington Herald Leader.
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