RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – To further enhance its efforts to retain top high school students from the region, UTRGV has announced it will invest $1.5 million to double the amount of merit-based scholarships available in Fall 2021. 

 

The UTRGV Scholars Program currently awards 200 merit-based scholarships, but starting next fall, the program will have 400 merit-based scholarships available. 

 

Overall, based on the increase and over the course of the four-year scholarship program, UTRGV will invest a total of $8 million dollars. 

 

UTRGV President Guy Bailey revealed the scholarship expansion at his Border Texan of the Year check presentation at McAllen City Hall. Bailey was the 2019 Border Texan of the Year and on Thursday was given a $30,000 check from the funds raised at his award dinner last year. 

 

Bailey said he personally will match the final amount raised, as will the UTRGV Foundation, bringing the final total to $90,000. All of the $90,000, he said, will go toward expanding the UTRGV Scholars Program. 

 

“One of our core priorities is to expand educational opportunities for the entire Rio Grande Valley, and this expansion will allow us to serve more top high school students from the region,” Bailey said. “I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the Border Texan of the Year funds. Your contributions will serve as the cornerstone of an initiative that will benefit the Valley for years to come.” 

 

For more information on the UTRGV Scholars Program, click here: https://www.utrgv.edu/scholarships/scholarships/new-students/index.htm 

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ABOUT UTRGV

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine and a School of Podiatry, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.

UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, Weslaco, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015; the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016, and the School of Podiatric Medicine in the fall of 2022.