Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
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| Motto | Think big. Work hard. Achieve. |
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| Formation | 2000 |
| Founder | Jack Kent Cooke (1912-1997), with a bequest in his will |
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Executive Director
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Harold O. Levy |
| Endowment | $641 million (July 2016) |
| Website | jkcf |
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private, independent foundation dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. It offers the largest scholarships in the U.S., comprehensive counseling and other support services to students from 8th grade to graduate school. Since 2000 it has awarded over $152 million in scholarships to nearly 2,200 students and more than $90 million in grants to organizations that serve outstanding low-income students.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation was launched in 2000, funded by a bequest from entrepreneur and sports team owner Jack Kent Cooke, who died in 1997. Cooke had to leave high school in Canada in 1930 before graduating in order to help support his family during the Great Depression. He later went on to amass a fortune and move to the United States, eventually acquiring the Washington Redskins football team.
In his will, Cooke made provisions for the sale of the Redskins and some of his other assets to create a foundation to help extraordinary students with financial need – similar in many ways to himself as a young man – afford a college education.
The first executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation was Matthew J. Quinn, serving from 2000 to 2009, when Harvard University psychologist Lawrence Kutner succeeded him. Current Executive Director Harold O. Levy, who is a former New York City schools chancellor, assumed his position in September 2014.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has awarded more than $152 million in scholarship assistance to nearly 2,200 extraordinary high school and college students. Each Cooke Scholar has a strong record of academic achievement as shown by grades and test scores, leadership skills, service to others and perseverance in the face of adversity.
Cooke College Scholars and Undergraduate Transfer Scholars can receive up to $40,000 annually to cover tuition, living expenses, books and fees. In addition, the students who hold these scholarships are eligible to apply for a graduate school scholarship worth up to $50,000 a year, which is renewable for up to four years. Cooke International Awards at the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge are worth up to $85,000 a year for graduate study.
Scholarships for high school, undergraduate and graduate students include academic advising, access to internship opportunities, funding for study abroad, and opportunities to network with other Cooke Scholars and alumni.
Here is a list of current Cooke Scholarship and Awards Programs:
The Cooke Prize for Equity in Educational Excellence is a $1 million award – the largest of its kind in the nation – given to an elite college or university with an excellent record of admitting, supporting and graduating outstanding low-income students.
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