It’s too bad that people like Elon Musk aren’t doing things like what Mackenzie Scott is doing.
What a $50 Million Donation Did for One H.B.C.U.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/07/style/hbcu-mackenzie-scott-donation.html?
Prairie View A&M University, the first state-supported college for African Americans in Texas, received a $50 million donation from MacKenzie Scott in 2020.Rahim Fortune for The New York Times
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — In-person learning resumed at Prairie View A&M University at the end of August, and the campus was soon buzzing with familiar sounds and sights: freshmen laughing in the dining hall, students walking across the sprawling yard in between classes.
There were also inescapable nods to our current era, like signs on light posts with different reminders, including “Today’s Task: Wear Your Mask.”
If colleges have been among the most disrupted institutions during the pandemic, they have also been centers of hope and resilience. At Prairie View, a historically Black university, some of that optimism has been magnified by a $50 million donation from
MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Jeff Bezos, who has
quietly given billions of dollars to
underfunded organizations since 2020.
The president of Prairie View, Ruth Simmons, is using the money for initiatives to reignite the campus, including starting a writing program, opening a center for race and justice, increasing the university’s endowment and reserving $10 million for a grant program from which some students are already benefiting.
Joshua Gant, 21, remembers texting his mother several months ago about his remaining balance for the summer semester and his concerns about how it was going to get paid. He had applied for a Panther Success Grant — created in 2020 to provide support for students financially impacted by the pandemic — but had not heard back yet.
Born in Shreveport, La., Mr. Gant came to Prairie View to study mass communication and play trombone in the marching band. At the height of the pandemic, he juggled his music, a part-time job and his virtual classes, all while managing the anxiety and depression that crept in during isolation.
When he finally reached the financial aid office, Mr. Gant was told that if he didn’t pay off his tuition balance in time he would be dropped from his classes. Then, just before the deadline, $2,000 landed in his account and reduced his debt to $0.
“It said: Panther Success Grant has been added to your account,” Mr. Gant said. “I’m like, ‘Mom, you don’t have to worry about it.’ And she’s like, ‘Thank you, God.’”
The grant helped him quit his job so he could focus on graduating. He hopes to stay at Prairie View for graduate school, too, for audio engineering or radio broadcasting.