Some students attending or looking to attend the University of Lethbridge will benefit from new scholarships that stem from a donor matching program. The university announced a new campaign on Oct. 12, where it committed to match donations for student awards, up to $10 million. Mike Mahon, president and vice chancellor, says he expects the money to be spread through one to three years as new donors create scholarships.
“We are very excited that the board worked hard to find the ten million dollars to use in this matching campaign and think that it will be attractive to our donors,” he said. “Really it’s about mounting the enthusiasm of our donors by creating an aspiration for them. Our experience tells us that if donors see that their funds will be matched, they’ll be that much more enthusiastic about supporting the university of Lethbridge.”
The scholarships will be varied and he says they will align with both the university’s values and the interests of donors.
“We know that the cost of education continues to rise so part of what this is about is our board recognizing that and saying we need to do more to create scholarships to support students as things like inflation and just the general cost of education continues to increase,” Mahon said. “A strong focus of ours will be that we look very carefully at the criteria that are established to make the scholarships as accessible as possible.”
Terry Whitehead is a long-time donor to the institution and a member of the board of governors — he said he hopes the campaign attracts donors in the community to support students.
“I have been fortunate that I have been able to start a number of student awards and competitions already so I plan to continue my giving in those areas plus I also want to make general gifts into the scholarship fund to help students of all faculties,” Whitehead said. “For me on a personal level, I want to be able to continue to provide opportunities for students who are looking for different ways to find success.”
The $10 million commitment will not have a timeframe on it, according to Mahon. He said scholarships will become available as the university works with donors to create them.
