DANVILLE, Ky. — Centre College has received a $10 million gift from an anonymous donor to support access to study abroad, internships, and other educational opportunities for first-generation students. The gift will enable Centre to provide all incoming first-generation students with $5,000 in enrichment funding in addition to their generous financial aid package.
Highlights:
- Centre College has received a $10 million gift to support first-generation students.
- Students can use the money for study abroad programs, internships, and other educational opportunities, to purchase textbooks, and computers and help in emergencies.
- The gift from an anonymous donor is part of Centre’s initiatives to transform the lives of first-generation students in Kentucky and across the country.
The funds may be used to pursue experiential learning opportunities such as independent research, entrepreneurship programming, professional internships, and study abroad experiences. First-generation students may also use these funds to pay for a laptop, textbooks, or any emergencies.
Centre is nationally recognized as an institution that provides extensive support and resources to transform the lives of talented first-generation students. Last week, Centre received $1 million grant to join the Kessler Scholars Collaborative, a national network of first-generation focused institutions. The Kessler Scholars are Centre’s second scholarship devoted to high-achieving first-generation students.
Since the launch of the Grissom Scholars Program, a full-tuition-plus scholarship initiative for first-generation students, Centre has increased the percentage of first-generation students from 8.9 percent to 21 percent in part greatly due to a 2015 gift from the former board chair, David Grissom, and his wife, Marlene.
Centre offers $41 million in scholarships and grants annually, with more than 90 percent of its students receiving some sort of need-based or merit aid. This, Scott explains, combined with the enrichment support and resources this gift provides to ensure experiential learning opportunities, is “unparalleled” in the nation.
Further, with this new commitment, Centre will add two additional full-time staff positions to support talented first-generation, Pell-eligible, and undocumented students, creating a structure to provide comprehensive mentoring and wrap-around services that align with the College’s focus on student success and career preparation—key components of Centre’s new strategic plan.
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