Hodson Trust Awards More Than $4.5 Million to Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Washington College has been awarded more than $4.5 million in grants from the Hodson Trust and the Hodson Scholarship Foundation - among the largest cumulative awards Washington College's largest donor has ever presented to the school.

The gift, totaling $4,614,129, consists of $3,578,759 from the Hodson Trust and $1,035,370 from the Hodson Scholarship Foundation.

"For many decades, the Hodson Trust has played a critical role in the growth of our institution and the success of generations of our students," said Baird Tipson, President of the College. "In addition to building upon existing scholarship endowments, this year's awards herald the start of two new initiatives - scholarship support for Maryland veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and a shared fellowship with the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, the greatest academic library for early Americana. We are grateful for the Hodson Trust's special commitment to four of Maryland's premier independent institutions of higher education." Three other Maryland institutions - Hood College, St. John's College and the Johns Hopkins University - also received Hodson Trust grants.

In its current gift to Washington College, the Trust has designated $78,759 to support the first three Hodson Trust Star Scholarships (awarded to Maryland veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts) and $305,894 to fund current minority and general merit scholarships. The grant also provides a $729,477 addition to the Hodson Scholarship Foundation endowment, $2.5 million to the Hodson Trust Merit Scholarship Endowment, and $1 million to endow a Hodson Trust-John Carter Brown Library Fellowship affiliated with Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.

The Hodson Trust was established by the family of Colonel Clarence Hodson, founder of the Beneficial Corporation, to support excellence in education. Since 1920, the Hodson Trust has given more than $198.2 million to fund academic merit scholarships as well as research grants, technology improvements, facilities, library expansion, athletic programs, faculty salaries and endowment funds at the four Maryland schools. For information about the Hodson Trust, visit www.hodsontrust.org.

December 5, 2007