Campaign for Scholarships Scope and Goals

Increasing unrestricted scholarships
Unrestricted scholarships give OU’s financial aid counselors the most flexibility in directing scholarship funding to both the most deserving students and those with the greatest need.

Sustaining the Sooner Heritage Scholarships Program
This program is geared for middle-income students who don’t benefit from government aid available to low-income students. The Campaign seeks endowment-level gifts as well as annual gifts of $500 for named Sooner Heritage Scholarships.

Increasing scholarship endowments
A named scholarship endowment has only the earnings expended each year, leaving the principal intact. Endowments can be created with at least $10,000, which will support one $500 award each year. They can be restricted to a favorite college or be left unrestricted. For programs with higher student costs, such as the College of Medicine, scholarship endowments are encouraged at $25,000 or more. A particular emphasis has been placed on “leadership level” endowments of at least $40,000, with awards of $1,000 per semester.

Supporting the recruitment and retention goals of colleges on all three OU campuses
Scholarships are critical to each of OU’s 20 degree-granting colleges.