Boeing and Microsoft recently announced their decision to give a total of $50 million to Washington state”s new Opportunity Scholarship Foundation over the next five years. Each company pledged $25 million to the fund.
This public-private scholarship fund is for undergraduate students majoring in high-demand fields such as healthcare, science, manufacturing, mathematics and technology. Applicants must be low and middle income students.
The fund may begin providing scholarships as early as December 2011. This is sure to come as welcome news at a time when students are looking at significant tuition increases in the fall.
After $20 million is raised, donors will have the option of specifying whether they want their donations to fund immediate scholarships or whether they want it applied to a future scholarship endowment. The state will match private contributions to the account beginning in 2014 with the goal of raising $1 billion in the next 10 years.
Tags: Boeing, Education, Microsoft, Opportunity Scholarship Foundation, tuition, Washington State
