A series of donations totaling more than $1 million have helped Mercy College launch the Mercy Scholars Program, a four-year scholarship fund that will be provided to high-achieving students with financial need beginning this fall.
A “major” donation by the Robert and Kate Niehaus Foundation, Inc., of an undisclosed amount as well as donations from Mercy College board member Jim McCormick, his wife Marsha McCormick and other board and faculty members helped kick-start the program, which will provide scholarship funding for four years to selected students beginning in their freshman year.
According to officials, the program, designed to help undergraduate students graduate in four years without debt, will provide funding to cover the cost of tuition, books and fees not covered by a federal Pell Grant or New York State Tuition Assistance Program. Officials said the funds still needed by students who receive a full federal Pell Grant and maximum NYS TAP funding is roughly $3,500 per year, which the program would cover in full.  It will fund a minimum of 30 students beginning this fall for the next four years.
The New York City-based Robert and Kate Niehaus Foundation provides grant and endowment funding.
“There is nothing that is more transformational to a person’s life than getting a quality education,” said Robert Niehaus, the chairman and founder of Greenhill Capital Partners LLC, who attended college on a full scholarship himself. “To be able to give someone a quality education without any debt I think is a wonderful gift.”
Students eligible for the Mercy Scholars program in the fall 2016 semester must be incoming freshmen from the New York metro area who are Pell Grant eligible and receive the maximum funding amount from NYS TAP. Students awarded the program scholarship also must maintain full-time status for four years.
