Gates Millennium Scholars: 15,000 and Counting

Another 1,000 low-income minority students have been awarded Gates Millennium Scholarships. This year’s class includes students from 44 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories. The 1,000 winners will be attending 334 different colleges and universities.

Winners receive money for four years of college as well as leadership training, mentoring, and academic support. To date more than 15,000 students have received Gates Millennium Scholarships. Scholars in the program have achieved a college graduation rate of 90 percent, about twice the rate for minority students generally.

The program was established in 1999 with an endowment of $1.6 billion from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The need-based scholarships are available only for African-American, Hispanic, American Indian, or Asian/Pacific Islander-American students.