At a time when a college degree is what a high school diploma was to previous generations—the minimum entry-level requirement for almost every well-paying career—UNCF plays a critical role in enabling more than 60,000 students each year to attend college and get the education they need and that the nation needs them to have. To live up to the ideal expressed in UNCF’s universally-recognized motto, ”A mind is a terrible thing to waste,”® UNCF helps students go to and through college by:
- Awarding 10,000 students each year through 400 scholarship and internship programs so that students from low- and moderate-income families can afford college tuition, books and room and board;
- Providing operating funds for its 38 member colleges, all of them small, private institutions that offer a small-college experience at tuitions that average more than 30 percent less than those at comparable colleges and universities;
- Serving as a national advocate for the importance of education for all Americans by serving as the voice of students of color through its annual television program, UNCF An Evening of Stars®, a national public service announcement campaign built around “A mind is a terrible thing to waste”® and commentary in national media.
Our Students
Today, a significant number of our students come from low- to moderate-income families, and 94 percent qualify for financial aid.
Our Scholarship Programs
UNCF awards more than 10,000 scholarships through more than 400 scholarship, internship, fellowship and institutional grants that support students at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels. Those programs include the:
- Gates Millennium Scholars Program, which supports students from undergraduate through to doctoral studies and whose students have graduation rates of 80-90 percent
- UNCF/Merck Science Initiative, which offers students bioscience and biotechnology research fellowships, cultivating their potential with financial support, hands-on training, close mentoring relationships and institutional support
- Corporate Scholars Program supports hundreds of students with scholarships and internships at major Fortune 500 corporations
UNCF Institute for Capacity Building
The UNCF Institute for Capacity Building, a unique institutional improvement initiative, helps UNCF-member colleges and universities become stronger and more self-sustaining in areas that can make the difference between success and struggle such as curriculum and faculty enhancement, student recruitment and retention and fund-raising.
Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute
The UNCF Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute focuses on the educational status of African Americans of all ages from pre-school through adulthood. The Institute seeks to understand and expand the multiple pathways leading to educational attainment. Using varied research methods, the Institute serves to positively impact public policy and improve local education practice.