$70 million gift to help Calif. students
By CC Times, Published May 19, 2008

The San Francisco-based Bernard Osher Foundation will provide $70 million to create a scholarship endowment for low-income community college students in California.

The donation is the single largest gift to a community college system in the nation and one of the largest gifts ever made to higher education. The endowment will pay for $1,000 scholarships for students at the state’s 109 two-year colleges.

The donation by the co-founder of World Savings comes as California faces a budget shortfall estimated to be $15 billion to $20 billion.

The state’s three college systems stand to lose nearly $1.3 billion between them under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Schwarzenegger joined Diane Woodruff, interim chancellor of the California Community Colleges System, last week at a press conference announcing the gift.

"I know firsthand the incredible value of community colleges from my time at Santa Monica College. They serve a vital role in preparing our workforce, and this gift will provide innumerable benefits to our state’s economy and diverse communities," Schwarzenegger said.

The donation includes two separate commitments. About $50 million will support

annual scholarships, with $25 million going immediately to fund the endowment, which will be managed by the Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC).

The remaining $25 million will be contributed to the endowment on a two-to-one match. FCCC will lead a joint effort with the community college system and individual community colleges to raise a matching $50 million over three years.

Once the endowment is fully funded, officials said that at least 5,000 scholarships will be awarded annually with that number continuing to grow each year.

In addition to the $50 million gift, the Osher Initiative provides $20 million to support endowed scholarship programs at California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) campuses that don’t currently have Osher scholarship programs in place. The scholarship programs will be for community college students transferring to the CSU and UC campuses.

Some 60 percent of CSU and 30 percent of UC graduates are community college transfers.

"Bernard and Barbro Osher and the Osher Foundation’s trustees are making this gift to underscore the importance of our nation’s community colleges, to help address persistent financial needs and to encourage private philanthropy to support these institutions," said Mary Bitterman, president of the foundation.

There are more than 2.6 million students enrolled in the state’s community colleges, making it the largest higher education system in the country. Two-year colleges enroll the state’s lowest income students—full-time students have an annual median income of $16,223 and a fourth of those students have incomes less than $5,544 per year.

California’s community colleges are also among the most affordable higher education systems. At $20 per unit, student fees are currently the lowest in the nation, comprising 24 percent of the national average.