Major Addition to the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program

In 1999 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation established the $1 billion Millennium Scholars program for low-income and minority youth seeking a college education. The scholarship program is administered by the United Negro College Fund but it is open to low-income African Americans, American Indians, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans. Since its inception, more than 10,000 minority students have received scholarship grants from the program.

Now the foundation has endowed the program with an additional $58 million to help minority students seeking graduate degrees in public health. Graduate students seeking degrees in epidemiology, biomedical science, tropical diseases, public health practice, and nutritional science will be eligible for the new scholarships.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.