When the Vols take on the Mocs Saturday at Neyland stadium, University of Tennessee President Randy Boyd hopes both UT-Knoxville and UT-Chattanooga fans will have something to cheer for together: raising funds to permanently fund the UT Promise scholarship.
During the game, the UT system will publicly kick off a $100 million endowment campaign, which has already raised $17.5 million since March for the program to provide full tuition scholarships to qualified students from families with annual incomes under $50,000.
“This endowment will allow us to keep our promise for years to come,” Boyd said in an announcement of the new campaign Friday.
Until the endowment is funded, the University will cover the cost of the students’ scholarships but UT is raising funds to help pay for the assistance to aid more low- and moderate-income students to attend one of the four University of Tennessee schools across the state.
UT Promise was unveiled in March by Boyd as last-dollar scholarship program that guarantees free tuition and mandatory fees for undergraduate students from Tennessee with a family household income of under $50,000 after other financial aid is received, such as Pell Grants, HOPE Scholarships or other institutional scholarships. The program is available for undergraduate students at UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga, UT Martin and UT Health Science Center.