Foundation Establishes UGA Scholarship for Students from Rural Georgia
Wednesday, June 26th, 2019
The George W. Strickland Jr. Foundation recently gifted $400,000 to establish four Georgia Commitment Scholarships at the University of Georgia.
Scholarships will be awarded starting in Fall 2019 and prioritize students from 16 rural counties: Evans, Tattnall, Bryan, Bulloch, Candler, Liberty, Toombs, Emanuel, Jenkins, Screven, Burke, Appling, Wayne, Glynn, Long and Effingham.
The Strickland Scholarships will impact students in rural Georgia, an area that had deep meaning to the foundation’s namesake, Evans County native George W. “Jack” Strickland Jr., a United States Army veteran and business owner in Claxton. Strickland died in 2010 and the foundation was established in 2016.
“We are appreciative of the George W. Strickland Jr. Foundation’s commitment to our rural Georgian students and know that the lives of these students and their families will be positively impacted for generations to come,” said Kelly Kerner, UGA vice president for development and alumni relations.
Through the Georgia Commitment Scholarship Program, the UGA Foundation will match dollar for dollar each of the four $100,000 scholarships to establish an endowed, need-based scholarship for undergraduate students. The endowed scholarship will last in perpetuity, helping student after student earn a UGA degree. Since the matching program’s creation in 2017, over $56 million has been dedicated to new need-based scholarships, with over 285 donors giving to the program.
