Students and recent alumni of Cochise College who are planning to transfer to a university have until Friday, Jan. 12 to contact Counselor Mary Beth Sutor about the Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship Program offered by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. The private foundation, which received more than 600 nominations last year, will award up to $30,000 annually per recipient.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation plans to award approximately 50 undergraduate transfer scholarships in spring 2009. It will renew awards each year based upon student performance.

Current students are eligible, as are alumni who earned a community college degree since spring 2004 and have not since transferred to a four-year institution. All candidates for the scholarship must be nominated by the faculty representative at their community college. Cochise College students and alumni should contact Sutor at (520) 417-4035 or sutorma@cochise.edu<mailto:sutorma@cochise.edu>.

Former Cochise College student Heather Morrison received the prestigious undergraduate transfer scholarship in 2005. That year, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation awarded only 25 of the scholarships, and Morrison was the only student in Arizona to receive it. She transferred to Northern Arizona University.

While 45 percent of all college students in the United States attend community colleges, few private funds are available to help top community college students transfer to four-year institutions, according to the foundation. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarships can provide funding for tuition, room and board, required fees, and books for the length of undergraduate degree completion, generally two years.

Awards can total up to $30,000 annually, though amounts will vary based on such factors as the cost of the institution each recipient attends.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private, independent foundation established in 2000 by the estate of Jack Kent Cooke to help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education. Cooke was a businessman and philanthropist who owned such professional sports teams as the Los Angeles Lakers and the Washington Redskins, as well as the Chrysler Building in New York City.

When he died in 1997, he left most of his fortune to establish the foundation. Besides the Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship Program, the foundation’s programs for outstanding students with financial need include full scholarships for students attending graduate and professional school, as well as scholarships to help high-achieving youth develop their talents and abilities throughout high school.

For more information, visit www.jackkentcookefoundation.org<http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/> or call (800) 498-6478.