Largest Undergraduate Scholarship in the Nation Available to High-Achieving, Low-Income Students

LANSDOWNE, Va., Sept. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation invites applications for its College Scholarship Program, the largest undergraduate scholarship in the country. Recipients will be awarded as much as $40,000 each year for four years for tuition, books, living expenses, and other required fees. Up to 40 spaces are available to high-achieving high school seniors with financial need who seek to attend the nation's best four-year colleges and universities.

"Year after year the potential of thousands of exceptionally promising students is wasted because they lack the resources to go to college," said Harold O. Levy, executive director of the foundation. "It's to our detriment that as a nation we aren't doing more to ensure all of our best and brightest students are on the path to future success. This is why we opened our College Scholarship Program last year and why we increased our financial support to our Scholars this year."

In addition to financial support, the program offers an on-staff adviser to help students transition to college and maximize their campus experiences, a network of extraordinary scholars, and opportunities students might not otherwise have, such as funding for internships, study abroad, and graduate study.

To be eligible to apply to this highly selective scholarship, applicants must plan to graduate from a U.S. high school in spring 2015 and enroll in an accredited four-year college in fall 2015; earn a cumulative, unweighted GPA of 3.5 or above; receive a SAT combined math and critical reading score of 1200 or above or an ACT composite score of 26 or above; and demonstrate unmet financial need. Eighty-three percent of the accepted students in the previous College Scholarship Program cohort were eligible for a Pell Grant. A rigorous review will also consider participation in available advanced courses, student essays, and letters of recommendation.

The application period will close on November 4, 2014. Final notification to accepted students will be made in March 2015. For information about the College Scholarship Program, visithttp://www.jkcf.org/scholarships/college-scholarship-program/. 

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, the largest scholarship foundation in the country, is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Because we believe that high-potential, low-income students will excel educationally when given the resources to develop their talents, the Foundation supports exceptional students from elementary school to graduate school through scholarships, grants, direct service, and knowledge creation and dissemination. Founded in 2000 by the estate of Jack Kent Cooke, the Foundation has awarded $125 million in scholarships to 1,800 students, and $79 million in grants to organizations that support our mission. www.jkcf.org

SOURCE Jack Kent Cooke Foundation