CONTACT: Katy Duren, (608) 263-5114, kduren@dcs.wisc.edu
MADISON – The University of Wisconsin-Madison has been awarded a gift from the Bernard Osher Foundation of San Francisco to provide scholarships for up to 10 adults who are returning to college to complete their first bachelor’s degrees.
“The Osher Foundation has chosen to give a grant to assist returning adult students at UW-Madison and may renew it annually for up to two more years. After that, with the program’s demonstrated success, the university may apply for a $1 million endowment to support the program in perpetuity,” said Dean Howard Martin of UW-Madison’s Division of Continuing Studies (DCS).
Scholarship applicants must:
– Be between the ages of 25 and 50 at the time of application;
– Be a newly admitted or continuing student (full or part time) at UW-Madison seeking their first baccalaureate degree;
– Have completed a minimum of 15 college credits;
– Have experienced a break of several years in their undergraduate education;
– Demonstrate potential for academic success, and
– Demonstrate financial need.
The scholarship assists with the cost of tuition, books and other education-related costs. Recipients are given a tuition grant of up to $5,000 per academic year. The program is not intended for transfer students or those seeking an additional degree.
“The university wants to reach out to this group which is so often overlooked,” says Martin, adding that the DCS has been supporting returning adult students for more than 25 years.
“We are pleased to extend our support by offering these scholarships with the help of the Bernard Osher Foundation,” he says. “The Osher Reentry Scholarship program seeks to recognize the commitment, efforts and financial hardships of reentry working adults as they balance family, work, and school responsibilities in order to achieve their educational goals.”
The Bernard Osher Foundation was founded in 1977 by Bernard Osher, a successful businessman and community leader, to provide scholarship support for students of colleges and universities principally in California and Maine. UW-Madison recently also received a $100,000 grant from the foundation to establish an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute jointly with the Wisconsin Alumni Association to assist lifelong learning for area residents ages 50 and over.
The deadline to receive an Osher Rentry Student Award for the 2006-2007 academic year is June 1.
Applicants must be fully admitted to UW-Madison before August 15. For information about the admission process, contact the Adult and Student Service Center at (608) 263-6960. Information about the Osher scholarship is available online at
http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/services/finanserv/scholarships/osher.htm.
Information about other scholarships for adult students, visit http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/services/index.htm
