The Windgate Foundation has gifted $7.5 million to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to help launch a new scholarship fund.
Known as the Enduring Opportunity Scholarship Fund, it will aid in growing and continuing to provide need-based scholarship support.
This includes a $5 million endowment to establish a permanent scholarship fund, with $2.5 million in immediate-use funds to support “affordability initiatives over the next several years while the endowment grows,” according to the fund’s website.
The gift comes with a challenge for the school to raise another $1.5 million.
During a Friday event on campus announcing the gift, Chancellor Christina Drale delivered the news and also said she is pledging $25,000 to “answer the challenge.”
In recent years, UA Little Rock has established multiple other funds to help college affordability for its students, thanks to a $25 million anonymous donation in 2020.
“We knew to move the needle on educational attainment, we had to step up our game in the area of need-based student aid and reduce the amount that students were taking out in loans,” Drale said.
To date, the Trojan Guarantee Scholarship and Half-Off Scholarship have helped 4,100 students, she said. Fifty-eight percent of those students are first-generation college students, 43 percent are working students and six percent are veterans.
Drale shared a statement from the Windgate Foundation’s executive director, Pat Forgy, who could not attend the event.
“We believe that when students are empowered to pursue their education, free from financial barriers, they are better positioned to thrive and reach their full potential,” Forgy said, according to the statement.
An Le, the student government association president, spoke at the event about the power of someone believing in and supporting education for students, especially first-generation students like herself.
“This generous gift from the Windgate Foundation and the matching challenge will allow vital scholarships programs to continue opening doors for students like me, not just today, but for years to come,” Le said.
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