Tuesday, February 10, 2009

University of South Florida Offers LGBT Scholarship

The Alumni Association of USF (University of South Florida) has developed the first endowed LGBT scholarship to be offered at the univeristy.

The scholarship began over a year ago as a $1,000 fund but has grown into a $29,000 endowment with the help of Dr. Karen Berkman who chairs USF’s President’s Committee on Issues of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (CISOGI).

Berkman, who donated $20,000 to the fund stated;

“We felt that this was something that we wanted to be at USF forever, and the only way to make that happen was to get an endowed scholarship fund.”

In order for a scholarship to become endowed, the fund must first raise $25,000. When that amount has been obtained, the scholarship becomes permanent and works off of interest the monies earn.

USF is one of only a handful of public universities in Florida to offer such a scholarship.

The scholarship is available to all USF students, including incoming freshmen, regardless of sexual orientation. Requirements for the scholarship include having a 3.0 grade point average and applicants must demonstrate, by essay, their contributions to the LGBT community.

Crossposted via Gay Agenda.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think this is a great scholarship. It is extremely important for everyone be able to afford a college education. As a current college student I see everyday the need for more scholarships to be made available. I hope that USF has a similar scholarship in the future, with the criteria being a 3.0 gpa and to demonstrate their contributions towards the heterosexual community. We have to be fair and equal, isn't that what the LGBT community wants?

Queers United said...

Every contribution, is a contribution to the heterosexual community, every political move, every party, and every church and community center is geared towards the heterosexual lifestyle. That being said, heterosexual people are more than welcome to apply for this scholarship, I know straights who have gotten gay scholarships on the merits of helping making heterosexual society more inclusive of non-heterosexual people.

T. R Xands said...

I think LGBT scholarships are great in general for gay & straight students...too bad none of the schools in my area offer any specific ones :/ but it's good that they are out there. I'm kind of jealous of USF now.

Anonymous said...

wow. this makes me like USF even more now. this is really great tho..

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