Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A recent $100,000 gift from the Luckyday Foundation will be earmarked for Mississippi State's Promise Program to help deserving Mississippi students further their education.
The Jackson-based foundation was established by Frank Rogers Day, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Trustmark National Bank for many years before his death in 1999.
"We are very appreciative of the Luckyday Foundation's support, are committed to being good stewards of the funds, and hope to continue our relationship with this fine Mississippi foundation in achieving the goals of the Promise Program," said university President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong.
Launched shortly after Foglesong arrived in 2006, the program is designed to help qualified entering freshmen and community college transfer students from low-income Mississippi families attend the land-grant institution.
"We're especially interested in providing assistance to those students who are squeezed out by rising tuitions," Foglesong explained, adding that the Promise Program helps bridge the gap between the costs of tuition minus all other gift aid.
A keystone gift from MSU alumnus Louis A. Hurst of Houston, Texas, provided initial support for the program, which has provided grants to 250 Mississippi students during its first two years.