Now that we are over 45 years old and are quickly approaching our 50th anniversary, we want to ensure the sustainability of this grass-roots efforts by alumni and friends to help students directly. The majority of our current donor base is between the ages of 65 and 85 years old. Younger alumni and recipients of the scholarships are being asked to step up but this will take considerable time. There is a solution. Due to the unexpected generosity of one of our donor’s children’. Their son has given us $25,000 with a “Matching Gift” request to launch an Endowment.
When the Wildcat Club was established in 1973 the focus was sports because the student athletes needed things like equipment, uniforms, and transportation to and from away games. By the year 2000, VU had grown to a point where the Wildcat Club was replaced by professional fundraisers and the University decided that the WCC was longer needed to help the student athletes.
Over the intervening years, the school has become wildly successful, winning the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships both in 2016 and 2018, generating millions of dollars from merchandising and television licensing fees. Hurray! We have a wonderful windfall for our sports programs, including more money for athletic scholarships. What a great job Coach Wright has done!
And what a fantastic job BWSF donors have done in continuing to help students where they had a need. Since the Wildcat Club changed its name and purpose to The Blue White Scholarship Foundation, you have all supported “Needs Based” Scholarships. As the focus of all major Universities shifts from “Needs Based” to other politically correct criteria, there is a real danger that mainstream students will be left out of badly needed scholarships. Blue White is here to “Bridge That Gap”.
There are two main criteria for a Blue White Scholarship Foundation. First – is the student “Working his/her Way through School” doing what they can to pay for their own expenses, and do they have an “ Unmet Financial Need. “ All other issues aside, the question of unmet financial need is the main focus of our criteria for awarding scholarships.
So, what do we mean by “Unmet” financial need? This means that, although a student may have been awarded tuition grants by the University, or other financial aid in the form of state and federal or private scholarships, including the maximum amount of private and government loans, are they still short the money they need to pay for their tuition and room and board expenses? If so, this is their unmet need.
After the University has done all they deem appropriate to assist the student, we are here as a safety net. The alumni that have provided this safety net through the BWSF for nearly the past twenty years, are the most selfless and giving of people. I cannot give you enough accolades.
No perks have been had by BWSF donors. No tickets, no free entertainment, no name on a building. Instead you have been asked to work and get involved by becoming a Judge and evaluating the student applications. This input determines which students are recommended to receive scholarship awards. How much of a scholarship each student receives is then determined by the BWSF Scholarship Committee after reviewing information provided by the V.U. Financial Assistance Department.