UNCF, the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships to African Americans and other students of color, has received a grant from ExxonMobil worth up to $500,000. The grant will provide emergency education assistance to college juniors and seniors impacted by the struggling economy and facing bills for tuition, books, and room and board that must be paid before seniors can graduate and juniors can continue to their senior year.
The ExxonMobil contribution is in the form of a challenge grant. ExxonMobil has made an immediate contribution of $250,000, and will match, dollar-for-dollar, each contribution, large or small, up to a total of $250,000. Meeting the ExxonMobil challenge would yield a total of $750,000 for the emergency scholarship fund, enough to help 500 students stay in school.
The emergency scholarship fund was established in 2009 and by the end of 2011 raised $12 million to help more than 7,000 students stay in college so they could graduate. This is ExxonMobil’s second major challenge-grant contribution to the Campaign for Emergency Student Aid. The company kicked off the campaign in 2009 with a $1 million grant. The challenge portion of that grant was met and surpassed within weeks.
“ExxonMobil’s investment in UNCF students could not be more welcome and could not come at a better time,” said UNCF President and CEO Michael L. Lomax. “These juniors and seniors have done their part. They have studied hard and kept their grades up. Seniors are within sight of graduation day in May. Juniors will be re-enrolling for their final year. They cannot afford to fall short now. We cannot afford to have them fall short.”
The up-front portion of ExxonMobil’s grant has already made a difference.
Travis Lindsey Jr., a Morehouse College senior in Business Development, faced a financial shortfall after his parents lost their jobs of 25 years due to layoffs. But thanks to ExxonMobil’s contribution to the Campaign for Emergency Student Aid grant, he will graduate in May.
Another senior, Deaweh Benson of UNCF member institution Spelman College, was left with unpaid college expenses after her mother lost her job and got sick. An Emergency Student Aid scholarship, supported by the ExxonMobil grant, will also allow Deaweh to graduate on time.
“When I received the emergency funding from my angel, UNCF,” said Benson, “I was speechless. They believed in me enough to invest in me and help me graduate. Now I can stay in school and focus on being successful in school and after college in my career.”
“We were proud to be a leader helping UNCF establish its Campaign for Emergency Student Aid three years ago,” said Andrew P. Swiger, UNCF board member and senior vice president, Exxon Mobil Corporation. “The need today is as great as it was then and we are confident the response to our challenge will be met, enabling hundreds of committed students facing financial hardship to stay in school.”
Those who want to help a UNCF student stay in school can go to UNCF.org and click on the Campaign for Emergency Student Aid box to charge a contribution to a credit card. Ten-dollar contributions can be made by texting “UNCF” to 50555 on cell phones to help students walk the last mile of their education. Donors can also send checks to UNCF, 8260 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive, Fairfax, VA 22031. Thanks to the ExxonMobil challenge, every contribution up to $250,000 will be doubled; a $100 contribution, for example, means $200 to help a senior graduate in May.
Learn more at www.UNCF.org.
