Indiana students will have more Purdue University scholarship opportunities thanks to a new $6.7 million challenge issued by President France A. Córdova.
Córdova announced this summer that $7 million would be used to stimulate efforts to raise private donations for student support. About $300,000 of that was dedicated to support veterans and their dependents, and the remaining $6.7 million will be available for the Indiana Challenge Match.
"This challenge will help us inspire more people to create a legacy that supports students from Indiana who are working hard to study at Purdue," Córdova said. "More of Indiana's brightest students continue to choose Purdue, and establishing more endowments will make a Purdue education possible for many future generations of these Hoosier students."
The match helps donors meet the necessary minimum of $25,000 to establish a scholarship endowment by matching a cash gift of $12,500, said Timothy D. Sands, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.
"To encourage larger endowments, a 10 percent bonus will be added to the endowment for gifts of $25,000 or more. Historically, a new endowment does not produce enough income to award a scholarship during the first year," he said. "This bonus will allow a scholarship to be awarded the same year the endowment is fully funded."
The scholarships must be unrestricted to allow Purdue to award scholarships for strategic enrollment needs now and in the future. However, a donor can designate one of the following areas: college, school, department, university honors, university diversity programs or other university unrestricted scholarships.
The gifts for the Indiana Challenge Match will contribute to the Access and Success student scholarship and programming campaign. The campaign brought in $42.6 million in 2010-2011, and that brings the total raised through four years of the campaign to $170.6 million, which is on target to reach its $304 million goal by 2014. The campaign supports the Presidential and Trustees Scholarships, Marquis Scholarships for middle-income students, Emerging Urban Leaders Scholarships for students from targeted urban areas, and other general scholarships.
This fall, Purdue welcomed it strongest academically prepared class, and that includes the profile of Indiana students. First-year students from Indiana showed an average 10-point increase on the SAT from 1690 last year to 1700 this year. According to data from the College Board, 574 Indiana high school graduates in 2011 achieved a 2100-2400 total SAT score and self-reported an A or A+ high school grade point average. Purdue's 2011 freshman class includes more than 240 Indiana students who meet comparable achievement thresholds.
These funds were made possible by one-time gains from university investments realized this past fiscal year.