Gates Millennium Scholars Program Competitors

“A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”® For more than seven decades, this principle has remained at the heart of UNCF, enabling us to raise more than $5 billion and help more than 500,000 students and counting not just attend college, but thrive, graduate and become leaders. We do this in three ways: By awarding more than 10,000 students scholarships, worth more than $100 million, each year. By providing financial support to 37 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). And by serving as the nation’s leading advocate for the importance of minority education and community engagement. This three-pronged approach is powerful: Since our founding in 1944, we’ve helped to more than double the number of minorities attending college. The six-year graduation rate for UNCF African American scholarship recipient is 70%. This is 11% higher than the national average and 31% higher than the national average for all African Americans.

Founded in 1975, HSF empowers students and parents with the knowledge and resources to successfully complete a higher education, while providing support services and scholarships to as many exceptional students, Scholars, and Alumni as possible. HSF strives to make college education a top priority for every family across the nation, mobilizing communities to proactively advance that goal—each individual, over a lifetime, in every way they can. HSF also seeks to give its Scholars all the tools they need to do well in their course work, graduate, enter, and excel in a profession, help lead our nation going forward, and mentor the generations to come. As one of the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations, HSF has awarded over $756 million in scholarships and provides a broad range of programs and support services for students, parents, HSF Scholars, and HSF Alumni. For more information about HSF, please visit HSF.net.

Posse started in 1989 because of one student who said, “I never would have dropped out of college if I had my posse with me.” The Posse Foundation identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. The Foundation extends to these students the opportunity to pursue personal and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multicultural teams—Posses—of 10 students. The Foundation’s partner colleges and universities award Posse Scholars full-tuition leadership scholarships. The Posse Foundation is a national initiative with program offices in 10 cities: Atlanta, the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans and New York. Posse recruits students from 20-plus cities across the United States, and nationwide through the Posse Veterans Program. Looking for more Posse stories on LinkedIn? Follow the Posse Veterans Program page: linkedin.com/showcase/posse-veterans-program