American Indian College Fund Receives $750,000 Matching Grant

Native News Network Staff in Native Briefs. Discussion »

$750,000

NATIVE BRIEF: DENVER - The American Indian College Fund (the Fund) has received a challenge grant from the Johnson Scholarship Foundation (JSF). The JSF will match up to $750,000 over the next three years to establish a scholarship endowment which will provide scholarships to American Indian students pursing business or entrepreneurship degrees at mainstream and tribal colleges and universities.

The maximum scholarship amount will be $6,000 per academic year and will be renewable for up to three years. For sophomores, the scholarship, the first year of the award, will be no greater than $2,500. Because the program is a matching grant program, the first scholarships are estimated to be available at the earliest in the Fall of 2013.

Eligible majors for students applying for scholarships under the grant include business administration, accounting, finance, marketing, and tribal administration.

Applicants must also be a member of a federally-recognized US Indian Tribe with documented financial need; be currently enrolled or accepted at junior or higher level at a tribal college and university or mainstream university (high-achieving sophomores at tribal colleges and universities or mainstream colleges and universities may also be considered); have a minimum GPA of 3.3; be admitted to or enrolled in business, entrepreneurship or other program appropriate to self-employment and including a minor in business; have a demonstrated commitment to completing a bachelor's degree in one of the areas listed above; and if enrolled in a business program at a mainstream university, the program must be accredited by the AACSB or ACBSP.

"The Johnson Scholarship Foundation is proud to act as a catalyst for this endowed scholarship project for the benefit of Native American college students who demonstrate financial need. It speaks to our mission to assist American Indians to obtain education and thereby empower themselves," said Malcolm Macleod, President of the Johnson Scholarship Foundation.

posted July 11, 2011 6:13 am edt