TRANSFORMING LIVES
Expanding Educational Opportunity for Men of Color What if you could transform the life of a student? To help a young man find purpose. To find his voice. To achieve his full academic potential. To make a difference.
You Can. Over the past 20 years, Saint John’s University has made significant strides to diversify its student body. In 2005, roughly 4 percent of the student body were students of color and another 4 percent were international students. The percentage of first-generation college students (those who are the first in their family to attend college) had steadily declined to 6 percent. Since that time, the composition of the student body has changed dramatically. Presently, roughly 22 percent of our enrollment is men of color and/or international students, and approximately 26 percent of our students are first-generation. The key to this growth has been a substantial investment in scholarship support for those in need, especially first-generation college students and students of color. Since 2000, donors have established nearly 50 scholarship funds at Saint John’s to provide generous scholarship support for students with financial need, with a preference for students of color and/or those who are the first in their family to attend college. These endowed scholarship funds now total nearly $18 million, with over $4.7 million in scholarships awarded since
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2002. In addition, benefactors have committed another $12.5 million in estate gift commitments designated to these existing scholarships. As a result, Saint John’s total cash and pledges targeted for this scholarship purpose exceed $30 million. Here are a few examples of these scholarship funds:
First-Generation Scholarship Funds
First-generation students are the first in their families to attend college. They are the fastest-growing segment of the traditional college-age population, both regionally and nationally. They are highly concentrated among students of color, and many are new immigrants to the United States. Saint John’s is committed to recruiting first-generation college students. We are actively recruiting first-generation students from Minnesota and from communities across the country, such as Newark, New Jersey; Immokalee, Florida; and Los Angeles, California, to name a few. The First Gen Scholarship program was established in 2010 with a generous grant from the Eugene and Mary Frey Family Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation. Now called First Up, this threepronged program is aimed at 1.) recruiting first-generation college students, 2.) awarding them financial aid, and 3.) providing them with the academic and student support services that they need to thrive at Saint John’s. Scholarships have been awarded to a wide variety of students with surnames
like Yang, Sura, Martinez, Cheung, Schultz, Zuniga, Chavez, Garcia, Bell, Duran, Bouddhara, Kelly, Thao and Gray. Graduation rates for these students have been strong – over 75 percent, which is remarkable for first-generation college students.
Intercultural LEAD Fellowship Program
The Intercultural LEAD Fellowship program provides support for talented first-generation students to build on the leadership skills they are already demonstrating within their high schools and home communities. Unique to SJU/CSB, Intercultural LEAD (Leadership, Education and Development) is a program of firstgeneration college students from many different backgrounds. The recipients represent many cultures, races and ethnicities; promote equality and the ideas of diversity and civic stewardship; aspire to be academic leaders in college;
