HYDE PARK — The Neubauer Family Foundation is spending $13 million to get more Hispanic students on campus at the University of Chicago.
The foundation announced Monday it is committing $13 million to reach out to Hispanic high school students to get them into programs on campus, as well as for financial support if they enroll at the University of Chicago.
The University of Chicago's overall enrollment in the fall was 6 percent Hispanic. At the undergraduate level, 8.5 percent of students are HIspanic.
The gift will also expand the financial aid the university can offer to international students.
According to the university, the Neubauer Family Foundation has earmarked the aid to exlude wealthy foreign students.
The outreach program will woo National Hispanic Recognition Scholars and other talented Hispanic students to come onto campus over the summer to take undergraduate courses.
If the students enroll at the university, they will have access to a pool of merit- and need-based financial aid packages from the foundation.
A university official was not immediately available to comment on how many students are expected to participate in each program.
Joseph Neubauer, the chairman and former CEO of Aramark, and his wife, Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer, have now publicly committed $78 million to the university, including a $26.5 million gift in 2012 to establish the Neubauer Family Collegium for Culture and Society.
“I was not yet a citizen when the University of Chicago business school offered me a scholarship,” said Joseph Neubauer, chair of the university’s $4.5 billion capital campaign, which kicked off publicly in May. “It changed my life.”
Neubauer, who was born in Israel, graduated from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1965. He has served on the university’s board of trustees since 1992.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
