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NSU gets $5 million check for student scholarships from Landmark Foundation

Landmark Foundation CEO Frank Batten Jr. handed over a $5 million check to NSU to give need-based scholarships to students.

NORFOLK, Va. — Just as the new academic year is getting underway, some Norfolk State University (NSU) students will receive a financial boost.

Landmark Foundation CEO Frank Batten Jr. handed over a $5 million check to NSU on Friday to give need-based scholarships to students.

“We want to help because as many students need only a modest amount of money sometimes to stay in school,” Batten Jr. said. “And it is just heartbreaking to hear about students who drop out of school because they are short a few hundred dollars.”

Batten said students can get up to $5,000 a year.

NSU Student Government President Indya Richards said this boost can give her classmates some much-needed support.

“I know a lot of students, even if you are incoming freshmen, who are either working or helping out with their brothers, or sisters or families or just being a college student and having life go on,” Richards said. “So, this is definitely something that can take something off their plate.”

This year, NSU has more than 1,300 students in its freshmen class, a big increase, according to President Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston.

"That is almost a 17% increase from last year’s freshmen class, and we have one of the largest classes we’ve had in the last several years,” Adams-Gaston said. We have over 5,700 students who are here which is a significant increase from last year.”

As the university grows, she said scholarship funding provides more opportunities for students.

“We are very pleased and excited that students want to be at NSU,” Adams-Gaston said. “We know they come with need, some come with high need, and having a gift like this closes the gap and continues to make it accessible for more students to come to NSU.”

Students will have to meet certain criteria to get the scholarships.

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