The Gates Millennium Scholars program has sent 15,000 minority students to college
The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) program, which provides need-based scholarships for only African-American, Hispanic, American Indian, or Asian/Pacific Islander-American students, just passed a milestone.
When the latest cohort of 1,000 students were selected the total number of scholars assisted since the program was established in 1999, with an endowment of $1.6 billion, reached 15,000. The newest group is comprised of young men and women that hail from the District of Columbia, 44 states and five U.S. territories. They will attend 334 different colleges and universities.
The GSM program is administered by the United Negro College Fund, the American Indian Graduate Center Scholars, Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
Beyond paid tuition for four years, the young scholars receive mentoring, academic support and training in leadership skills. In response to this assistance, past scholars have achieved a 90 percent graduation rate which is roughly twice the average of most minority students.
Check out the scholar profiles, and other scholarships that are available for minority boys and girls who want to attend college.
(Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
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