Kentucky College Gets Enormous $250 Million Donation

Centre College, in Danville. Kentucky, got a welcome gift this week -- $250 million dollars!

It's not actually cash. The school announced the money comes as stock in Universal Computer Systems Holding Inc. (Reynolds and Reynolds) from the A. Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust to establish the Brockman Scholars Program in Leadership and Entrepreneurship.and will be used to pay scholarships for students studying natural sciences, economics and computational sciences. So, it is entirely possible the gift may grow to be even a larger sum.

Brockman's son attended Centre, but he left the school because it didn't offer a degree in business administration. Still, his son, who now runs the trust, thoroughly enjoyed his experience at the school and decided to pay it forward.

“This magnificent gift establishing the Brockman Scholars Program marks a fundamental transformation in Centre College’s ability to support students whose hard work, character, and intellect have demonstrated their potential for leadership,” said Centre President John A. Roush.

“The problems and the opportunities confronting our nation and world are increasingly complex,” Roush continued, “and the Brockman Scholars Program will empower talented young women and men with the knowledge, creativity, and integrity necessary to address them.” Roush also said that the gift “is a wonderful testament to the vision of the Brockman Trust’s founder.”

Centre may not have the gravitas of a Harvard or a Yale, but the Washington Post calls Centre “one of the premier intellectual gathering points in its region.”