Morehead State scholarships positively impact both donors and students
Last year, nearly 700 scholarships totaling $1.6 million were awarded to Morehead State University students through the MSU Foundation. These scholarships help with their tuition at MSU but also help with everything from emergency needs and textbooks to offering beneficial opportunities like internships and education abroad.
This support reflects Morehead State University’s long-standing commitment to affordability. MSU maintains one of the lowest tuition rates in Kentucky, with 98% of undergraduate students receiving financial aid. Made possible through the generosity of alumni and donors, these scholarship funds make a meaningful difference for students while strengthening the connection between donors and the university community they continue to support.
The MSU Foundation recently celebrated the donors who make these opportunities possible and helped them connect with the students who are scholarship recipients. The inaugural Eagles with Heart Scholarship Appreciation Luncheon was a highlight of We "Heart" MSU Week, a weeklong series of events aimed at promoting student-based philanthropy and encouraging MSU spirit. Over 100 donors and fund representatives were present, along with nearly 50 student scholarship recipients.
Paul (Class of 1976) and Paula Stokes (Class of 1978) are proud alumni who have had successful careers as a lawyer and a teacher, respectively. The Stokes Family Scholarship, which helps students with the cost of college admissions testing, is a point of pride for the couple, putting the academic and social benefits of college within reach for students in need.
"I think beyond just getting an education, the totality of going to college, meeting people, learning what it's like to be out on your own, to find out what life is like...it goes just beyond the education," Paul said. "It helps you navigate what it's like to be an adult."
Claire Holbrook, a business management major from Olive Hill, is the recipient of two MSU Foundation scholarships and is grateful for the support it has provided for her MSU experience.
"I don't have to focus on the financial side of things," she said. "I can just relax and make sure my priorities are what they need to be."
Peyton Byrns, a traditional music studies major from Lawrenceburg, is the first-ever recipient of the Banjo and Bluegrass Music Scholarship Endowment in Honor of Steve Cooley.
"I'd really like my donor to know that I'm just so appreciative and grateful for this opportunity," Byrns said. "I'm here studying an art that is trying to stay alive, and I'm going to try my best to keep it alive."
Rick Hesterberg (Class of 1980), former vice president for University Advancement and his wife, Professor Emeritus Dr. Latonya Hesterberg (Class of 1984), established the Hesterberg Family Scholarship Endowment for a full-time junior or senior pursuing a degree in general business, management, marketing, media production & journalism, sport management, strategic communication or social work. Their most recent recipient, Tadd Johnson of Morehead, was grateful for the scholarship, which covered the cost of textbooks, school supplies and other expenses as he pursued a degree in sport management.
The Hesterbergs are both grateful to have received an education from MSU and want to help others do the same.
"Sometimes, just to walk in these doors, it's such adversity they had to overcome," Latonya said. "For me, I've just been blessed to not just be a graduate but to teach social work students for so many years, and it's just opened all kinds of doors."
"I think it's important for students to understand and to know that there are alumni that have their backs," Rick said. "There are alumni that were here walking on this campus who had successful college experiences and felt supported and are passing that along now to this future generation of students."
"Our scholarships we award every year are not funded by just one or two or even a small handful of people. It is hundreds of people that make this happen," said Jessi Ferguson (Class of 2011, 2012), executive director of the Office of Alumni Relations & Development.
"Whether it is a $1,000 annual scholarship that's funded from year to year or it's a scholarship that's generated from investment income from an endowment that was set up 20 years ago, or maybe it's even a future scholarship that has been committed through a planned estate gift, at the end of the day, when that student receives the scholarship, it carries the same weight no matter where it came from or how it was generated."
We "Heart" MSU Week included the 24-Hour Challenge, which raised $97,000 to support scholarships and other funds to support students.
For more information on this scholarship or how to create your own, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations & Development at 606-783-2033 or email giving@moreheadstate.edu.
To learn more about scholarships at Morehead State, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/scholarships.
