At the time of year when colleges are sending out financial aid packages, the Rhode Island Foundation is offering students and their families $2 million in scholarships.
Dozens of individual, family, corporate and organizational donors established scholarship funds at the Foundation to help students defray educational expenses such as tuition, room and board, fees and books.
“This support can turn dreams into reality for our donors and the recipients,” said Neil D. Steinberg, the Foundation’s president and CEO. “The impact of their generosity will ripple through our state for decades as these students make their marks in their fields and on their communities.”
The Foundation expects to help hundreds of students pay for college. In addition to general financial assistance, some funds target specific geographic areas such as Newport, Tiverton and Portsmouth.
The John Raymond Parker Jr. Memorial Scholarship, Charles E. and Agnes J. McCarthy Memorial Scholarship, Victoria Johnson Scholarship and Harold B. Werner Scholarshiptarget Rogers High School graduates. The Robert and Kathleen Crudup Family Scholarship Fund goes to Portsmouth High School graduates.
Tiverton High School graduates can apply for the Nora Wood Moore Memorial Scholarship, the Stone Bridge Volunteer Fire Department Scholarship and Margaret Chace Scholarship.
Other funds provide assistance based on major or family history. The Edward and Virginia Routhier Fund targets nursing majors, the Melvin and Patty Alperin First Generation Scholarship is earmarked for high school seniors who are the first in their family to go to college and the Bannister Black Philanthropy Fund helps African American students.
“This scholarship has taken immense amounts of stress off my family and I, allowing me to focus harder on my academics and less on my hours at work. I am truly grateful for your generously. I hope I fulfill my dream of becoming a nurse and serving Rhode Island,” said Emily Araujo, a junior nursing major at the University of Rhode Island, who received a scholarship from the Foundation’s Alan Edgar Wurdeman Fund.
The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. Working with generous and visionary donors, the Foundation raised $114 million and awarded $52 million in grants to organizations addressing the state’s most pressing issues and needs of diverse communities in 2018. Through leadership, fundraising and grantmaking activities, often in partnership with individuals and organizations, the Foundation is helping Rhode Island reach its true potential. For more information about applying for a scholarship, visit rifoundation.org.
