Auburn University recently received the largest single commitment to scholarships in the school’s history.
Samuel Ginn, the namesake of Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, and the Ginn Family Foundation have committed $30 million to create a new engineering scholarship program at Auburn University.
“My hope is that this program will lessen the financial burden of a higher education and help families in our state,” Ginn said in a news release. “There are so many students with strong family value systems, and they deserve an opportunity to focus on their studies instead of focusing on their financial situation.”
Auburn has been growing fast, with a 25% increase in its student body population in the last decade. In previous years, Auburn graduates with engineering degrees have gone on to high-paying jobs soon after finishing school.
The Ginn Scholarship Program, which will provide up to 40 scholarships each year covering tuition, fees, room and board for up to five years, is designed to provide financial and transitional assistance to incoming freshmen, along with the student support services needed to navigate the demanding curriculum.
Ginn Scholars will be provided dedicated space to study, collaborate and grow academically and personally, according to the university.
They will also attend lectures on personal finance and other subjects designed to support future success. These efforts are intended to help build a bond among the Ginn Scholars and develop personal relationships that last a lifetime.
To qualify for this merit-based scholarship, Ginn Scholars must demonstrate need, graduate from a Title I high school in the state of Alabama and be admitted into the College of Engineering. In addition, candidates must also have exercised leadership skills in school community activities and have values that align with those espoused in the Auburn Creed.
“When I was accepted into Auburn, the affordability issue was front and center, but a college education was important to my parents,” Ginn said in a news release. “Once at Auburn, I participated in ROTC, waited tables and worked in a clothing store just to get by. But I was never ashamed of that. In fact, it instilled that ‘hard work’ mentality that is grounded in the Auburn Creed.”
An Anniston native, Ginn graduated from Auburn with a degree in industrial engineering in 1959. He helped build what became the largest cellular company in the world — AirTouch — before it was sold for $65 billion in 1999.
He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Auburn University in 1998 and is a member of the Wireless Hall of Fame, the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame and the Alabama Business Hall of Fame.
The engineering school was renamed as the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering in his honor in 2001 after he committed $25 million to Auburn University to establish a wireless engineering program, the first of its kind in the nation.
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