The McGinn Family Endowed Scholarship

Criteria: (Amount Equivalent to Full Annual In-State Tuition) The McGinn Family Endowed Scholarship will be awarded to a first-generation college student with financial need who is a sophomore, junior or senior and has a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Seniors graduating in December of the year they might receive this award will also be considered.

Jayne ’97 and Howard McGinn ’83 have dedicated much of their professional lives to helping students find ways to pay for a college education.

Jayne, Financial Aid Director at WSU, has worked in the Financial Aid Office since the mid-1970s, when she was also a student. She continued to work in the Financial Aid Office after suspending her studies to raise a family, but she later became a part-time student and completed her degree in 1997.

Howard, who was a work-study student in the Financial Aid Office, worked in banking for 20 years before founding a successful not-for-profit student lending organization.

The couple decided to create a scholarship to help WSU students because, as Jayne explained, “we love Worcester State University. If it weren’t for this school, I don’t think either one of us would have had a college education.”

Howard grew up in modest circumstances that required him to pay for his own education, and Jayne enjoyed the University’s flexible scheduling that enabled her to earn a degree at her own pace.

“Worcester State University offers a safe, comfortable environment, excellent programs, and great faculty and administrators,” she said. “We are grateful for all the school has given us, and pleased to be able to give something back.”

Howard added, “We especially want to help students who are the first members of their families to earn a college degree. Education opens so many doors. Our hope is that in some small way, this scholarship will help those doors open a little more easily for Worcester State students today and in the future.”