New Full Scholarships for Exceptional State Students

By: Kristina Goodnough, UConn Foundation

Under a multi-year agreement, up to five new full scholarships will be available annually to exceptional state students at the University of Connecticut through a gift from the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation.

The gift will allow UConn to provide full support, including tuition, room and board, fees, and books to the students who will be guaranteed admission to UConn’s highly selective Honors Program.  An additional benefit of the new scholarships is financial support for enrichment activities that can include international travel and study, outdoor leadership programs, or research or non-profit internships.

Currently, UConn offers 15 full merit scholarships, known as Nutmeg Scholarships or Day of Pride Scholarships, to Connecticut residents.

The Stamps Family Charitable Foundation will provide half the cost for up to five additional scholarships. The University will match those funds through gifts from private donors. Two of the scholarships will be available for the 2013-2104 academic year and additional ones will be made available as the University raises the matching funds.

“We welcome the partnership with the Stamps Family Foundation to support exceptional Connecticut students and keep them in the state for their education,” says UConn President Susan Herbst. “Scholarship support is often the key factor for students choosing a school, so we are committed to expanding our scholarship funds to attract the state’s most promising students.”

The Stamps Family Charitable Foundation, founded by Penelope and E. Roe Stamps IV of Miami, selected UConn as one of its newest partners to provide full scholarships to exceptional incoming freshmen.The foundation, which now has 33 partners and supports more than 300 students, began supporting students in 2006 when Penny and Roe Stamps created merit scholarship programs for undergraduates at their alma maters, the University of Michigan and Georgia Tech.

Other universities that partner with the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation to support exceptional students include the universities of Virginia, Southern California, California at Los Angeles, Texas at Austin, Illinois, Florida, and Georgia, as well as the College of William and Mary, the California Institute of Technology and Purdue  University.

Adapted from UConn Foundation Our Moment newsletter (February-March 2013)