By Marc R. Masferrer, University Communications and Marketing
A Sarasota charitable foundation will match donations toward housing scholarships for students who will live in the new residence hall at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, during the 2024 Giving Challenge on April 9-10.
Giving Challenge is a biannual online event that allows donors to contribute to more than 700 nonprofit orgranizations in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties. The Patterson Foundation this year will again double gifts of up to $100 each, with no limit on the number of donations.
Gifts to USF Sarasota-Manatee made through the Giving Challenge website will support housing scholarships of up to $4,000 for students who line in the new residence hall. They money will be awarded over two semesters in 2024-2025. USF has been accepting applications to live in the building since last fall, and in January began accepting applications for the scholarships.
The Giving Challenge offers donors an opportunity to support USF Sarasota-Manatee, and its students, as the university continues to elevate the community’s higher education profile. The new student center and residence hall will foster the development of an even more dynamic campus community and forever end the notion that USF Sarasota-Manatee is just a “commuter campus.”
“When this complex opens and welcomes its first residents it will create a new vibrancy for the campus,” said Brett Kemker, USF Sarasota-Manatee regional vice chancellor of academic affairs and student success. “The students who live in the new building will be trailblazers in a state-of-the-art living facility.”
The USF Sarasota-Manatee page on the Giving Challenge website highlights how important the new building is to students and how the scholarships will make living on campus more affordable for them.
“Research shows that students who live on campus achieve greater academic success and have a higher chance of earning their degree in four years,” the page states. ”With your generosity, our students can experience all that USF Sarasota-Manatee and the community have to offer.”
The first two stories of the 100,000-square-foot building will be a student center that will include a ballroom, dining facilities, a bookstore, a game room and study lounges, as well as offices for USF World, student government and other student organizations.
The top four floors will be comprised of suites and apartment-style residences offering 200 USF students spectacular views of Sarasota Bay and the surrounding area. Some students will be members of an interdisciplinary Living Learning Community with peers who share similar academic, career and co-curricular interests. Students in the Living Learning Community will be eligible to apply for additional scholarships.
The Giving Challenge will start at noon, Tuesday, April 9, and continue until noon, April 10. For more information and to donate during the online event, visit givingchallenge.org/
Donors will also be able to support the housing scholarships and other USF-related organizations and programs during USF Giving Week, April 8-12. If any matches are available during Giving Week, they will be announced at a later date.