By Margaret Attridge
Magna Vista Partners CEO Dale E. Jones established a $2.5 million scholarship at Morehouse College to help juniors and seniors graduate from the historically Black men’s college in Atlanta.
The “Finishing Well” Scholarship will benefit juniors and seniors at the liberal arts college who need help paying for their education in their final years there and accessing the resources they need to finish college.
Black and African American college graduates owe an average of $25,000 more in student loan debt than white college graduates, according to a report by the Brookings Institution. Additionally, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 40% of Black students graduate from four-year universities and colleges within six years, compared to 64% of white students.
Too often, juniors and seniors may run out of resources before they complete their education. Jones wants to help with that.
We are hoping to build financial capacity for students to complete the last mile of their education,
he said in a press release.
Jones, who graduated from Morehouse in 1982 and previously served as a university trustee, says the donation was inspired partly by the financial challenges he and his twin brother faced at Morehouse decades prior.
My brother, Dr. Dan Jones, and I came to Morehouse under difficult circumstances. Our mother had passed away several years earlier. My dad, a shoe repairman by day and a janitor by night, struggled to keep us in college for four years. He also became permanently disabled while we were in school,
Jones said in the press release. The adversity of trying to stay encouraged, but also be financially capable to remain at Morehouse, was hard on all of us.
The Yolanda and Dale Jones Family Endowed Scholarship Fund is financed in an effort between Dale, his wife Yolanda, and their relatives and friends, according to the university. It will be available during the fall 2024 semester for students who meet the income and academic requirements.
Jones also serves as the national co-chair of the university’s Making Men of Consequence Campaign, a $500 million fundraising effort to help the university grow its international profile, modernize infrastructure, recruit new faculty, and raise money for scholarships.
As the only all-male historically Black college in the country, the university boasts an impressive alumni list, including civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and film director Spike Lee.
