Morehead Foundation Gets $100 million gift...renamed

Parents Forum
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<p>For the number crunchers, here are a few tidbits worth noting. Thesource is <a href="http://www.nassgap.org/viewrepository.aspx?categoryID=3#%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nassgap.org/viewrepository.aspx?categoryID=3#&lt;/a> </p>

<p>There is a more recent annual survey but it is protected. In the past 10 years need based aid increased from 2.459 B to 4.703. During the same period non-need aid increased from .411 B to 1.738 B. Percentage wise, this represents a clearly shifting pattern.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>In the 2004-2005 academic year, the states awarded about $7.9 billion in total state funded student financial aid, an increase of more than 8 percent in nominal terms from the $7.3 billion in aid awarded in 2003-2004 and an increase of about 6 percent in constant dollar terms.</p></li>
<li><p>The majority of state aid is in the form of grants. In 2004-05, slightly more than 3.5 million awards were made representing about $6.7 billion in need and nonneed-based grant aid, an increase of more than 8 percent from the $6.2 billion in grants awarded in 2003-2004. Of the grant funds awarded in 2004-05, 73 percent was need-based and 27 percent was nonneed-based. Need-based aid represented about 74 percent of grant aid awarded in 2003-04.</p></li>
<li><p>Funding for undergraduate need-based grant aid increased $445 million nationwide from about $4.2 billion in 2003-04 to more than $4.7 billion in 2004-05, an increase of more than 10 percent.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>4 Eight states (California, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas) collectively awarded more than $3.1 billion in undergraduate need-based grant aid, accounting for about 67 percent of all aid of this type.</p>

<ol>
<li>States provided more than $1.7 billion in nongrant student aid, including loans, loan assumptions, conditional grants, work-study, and tuition waivers. Loans and tuition waivers accounted for 69 percent of nongrant funds awarded. </li>
</ol>

<p>FWIW, a colloquy at the Chronicle in 2001 raised some issues about the trends and consequences; some of them were called as "profoundly troubling consequences" by Thomas G. Mortenson, a senior scholar at the Center for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education and a leading expert on state, federal, and institutional student-aid policies.</p>

<p><a href="http://chronicle.com/colloquylive/transcripts/2001/01/20010118mortenson.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://chronicle.com/colloquylive/transcripts/2001/01/20010118mortenson.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>mkm</p>

<p>While many of the original OOS nominating schools were indeed private, there was still a good cross-section of public schools in the mix. If you look at them though, many are in the east and midwest. I know that in my sons's Morehead class there were a good number of public school OOS winners.</p>

<p>A BIG part of the reason that the Morehead had not opened the process to more schools prior to this year was purely manpower. If you have not seen the application, it is the longest, most detailed application I have ever seen, for any school or scholarship. I am quite confident that the amount of time spent on each application far surpasses anything that ANY school's ADCOM spends on a normal application.</p>

<p>The people who read and review the applications have been doing so for years and over time have developed a "feel" for how the application translates into the individual and how good the "fit" would be. Once they are at Finalist stage, the amount of time spent getting to know the finalists must be staggering. I know my son said that his interviewers knew more about him than even many of his closest friends did.</p>

<p>Starting three years ago, the Foundation began "training" new readers to bolster their numbers to deal with a larger pool. I was really impressed with the length the Foundation went to train these new readers. My son told me that he had been asked to a lunch with a small number of his fellow Moreheads to meet and spend time with new readers. Each of the readers had had the opportunity to review the applications of the Moreheads present at the lunch and were then able to put a person and personality with the application.</p>

<p>They have been growing the number of readers so that they could open the Scholarship to more schools and this past year was the first opportunity to do so. Any school in the US can now apply to be a Morehead nominating school and the number of public schools has increased dramatically. We personally notified my D's school of the change in procedure, but curiously they thus far have chosen not to apply.</p>

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<p>Today's Daily Tar Heel offers another perspective on the gift.</p>

<p>"...A driving force in merit-based aid, the Morehead Foundation was running low on fuel until a $100 million gift was thrown into its engine.</p>

<p>The donation, a gift from the Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation in Houston, nearly doubles the Morehead's $115 million endowment, which has seen poor returns in recent years.</p>

<p>In 2003, the foundation dipped to its lowest class size with 40 incoming freshmen scholars. There were 42 entering scholars in fall 2004 and fall 2005.</p>

<p>And for the first time in its history, the foundation turned to fundraising to sustain its program.</p>

<p>Backed by the Morehead Scholarship Foundation, created in 2004 to support the Morehead Foundation's programming, the foundation's officials said it would rely mostly on donations in the years to come.</p>

<p>But despite the Cain donation, the foundation will continue its fundraising efforts in order to expand its programing and services for students, said Charles Lovelace, executive director for the Morehead.</p>

<p>Financial help also came in the form of a 2005 N.C. provision allowing out-of-state scholarship recipients to be considered in-state students.</p>

<p>Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, a major supporter of the provision, said the rule should and will remain in effect.</p>

<p>"Just because you have more money, should we charge you more? That doesn't seem right," he said.</p>

<p>Rand, who expressed his desire to help the Morehead during a time of cutbacks, said it is unlikely that the legislature will revisit the issue.</p>

<p>"If you value someone's contribution … you shouldn't make them pay more."</p>

<p>The combination of the state provision and the new funding means that 25 to 30 new students will be added to the 2007 roster of entering Morehead scholars, raising the class size to 75 to 80.</p>

<p>The award covers tuition, fees and books plus a summer stipend and laptop during a four-year period.</p>

<p>Along with the added weight in its pocketbook, the foundation also has adopted a new name and history - and "Uncle Mot" will have to share his lair with Gordon Cain, who died in 2002. </p>

<p>Cain earned his money as a businessman in the chemical and oil businesses. He served as a vice president for Conoco, and in 1982 he founded an investment banking firm, The Sterling Group.</p>

<p>After establishing the Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation in 1988, Cain's money has gone to many educational organizations. Total giving in fiscal year 2005 was $5,632,754, according to tax records.</p>

<p>The Cains first established connections with the Morehead Foundation while spending summers in North Carolina. The couple struck up a friendship with Alan Dickson, the Morehead Foundation's former chairman and its current general counsel.</p>

<p>The Cains approached Dickson about starting up their own merit scholarship program and asked for his assistance, Lovelace said.</p>

<p>Discussion of a large donation to the Morehead began in October.</p>

<p>After an amount was chosen, Morehead officials proposed a name change.</p>

<p>"It was largely because of the similarities between the careers and values of (John Motley Morehead III and Gordon Cain) and because of the significance of the gift," Lovelace said of the name change, adding that he thinks change will help expand the foundation's reach.</p>

<p>While the impact of the Cains' donation will be felt in the years to come, Thomas Cluderay, a senior Morehead scholar majoring in journalism and Latin American studies, said he does not believe the new name will be quickly adopted by alumni.</p>

<p>"I think that it will take a good while for Morehead-Cain to be used in common vernacular of students," he said. "It's a tradition here. The Morehead program has been coveted by many for a long time.</p>

<p>"That said, when it comes to a gift of that size, I think that any changes that need to happen to recognize that kind of philanthropy need to be taken.""</p>