Priddy Challenge Gift Funds $10 Million in New Scholarships
CONWAY, Ark. (Dec. 7, 2006)
Access and affordability to college for students from middle income families received a big boost at Hendrix College, thanks to the completion of a campaign to raise more than $10 million for new scholarships and financial aid.
The campaign was launched three years ago with a $3.9 million challenge grant from the Robert and Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust of Wichita Falls, Texas. This is the second largest gift the college has received.
Hendrix President J. Timothy Cloyd announced today that the college raised more than $6 million to match the Priddy Trust challenge to endow the scholarship program.
“We offer a special thanks to our alumni and friends for rallying around this challenge and to the Priddy Trust for its interest in need-based assistance for families that often fall through the cracks of financial aid,” said Cloyd. “Many of the donors to this fund have told us they were motivated by a feeling of gratitude to those who helped fund their own education, and they wanted to help students have access to a quality liberal arts education.”
Cloyd said college students from middle income families across the country have limited opportunities for financial aid, and the Priddy endowment closes this gap for Hendrix students. He was particularly pleased that Hendrix secured the $6 million portion of the five-year challenge more than two years ahead of the 2008 deadline.
In addition to the scholarship endowment, the Priddy Trust has made an additional $1 million commitment to support the Odyssey Program, an experiential learning program for Hendrix students to pursue their passions through projects that extend beyond the traditional classroom.
Robert Priddy and his wife Ruby were born and raised in Wichita Falls. Priddy, an 88-year-old Harvard Business School graduate, had success drilling oil wells. He created the Robert and Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust as a way to give grants to programs in human services, education, the arts and health that offer significant potential for individual and community development.
“Good stewardship is important to me,” Priddy told members of the Hendrix Board of Trustees recently. “Money means nothing; it’s what you do with it that matters. When we decided to support Hendrix, it was an objective decision, made just like a business decision. At Hendrix, we thought our gift could make a difference.”
Bonnie Garrigan, a Hendrix senior from Dallas, Texas, is one of the many recipients of a Priddy Scholarship. “The scholarship made a huge difference in my decision to come to Hendrix,” said Garrigan, whose father was a computer consultant who had been out of work for three years.
Families such as Garrigan’s often don’t qualify for federal assistance because of a number of variables, such as family size, age, spousal income or other assets.
Garrigan, who had attended a large high school, was looking for a smaller private college where she could find a better sense of community and a more personal learning style. While at Hendrix, she helped start an Ecology House for students who desired an environmentally-conscious lifestyle, and she co-founded a bee-keeping society. She also serves on the campus’ Environmental Concerns Committee.
An economics major, Garrigan counsels prospective college students to research how colleges spend their endowment funds before choosing a school. “The biggest thing at Hendrix is that the endowment is used to help students – whether it’s financial aid or funding their research projects or study abroad. I definitely have directly benefited from the endowment.”
For more information about the Priddy Scholarship and other financial aid and scholarship programs at Hendrix, contact the financial aid office at 501/450-1368.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college that emphasizes experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.
