The economic recession has adversely affected many students’ ability to pay for college. As a result of this downturn, college and university financial aid administrators are seeing an increased number of students who are eligible for financial assistance due to worsening financial circumstances, loss of income, or declining assets. In an effort to assist prospective and current students with their educational expenses, Prairie View A&M University has created the Presidential Scholarship Program. The presidential scholarships are named in honor of principals and presidents that have made significant contributions to Prairie View A&M University and the surrounding community.
Due to the increasing number of eligible applicants, please be advised that funding for the Presidential Scholarship Program are limited and will be awarded until all funds have been exhausted. Presidential Scholarship awards are made on a “first-come, first-serve” basis. Students who wish to be considered for a presidential scholarship must have completed and submitted the general scholarship application by the specified deadline and must have a verified FAFSA on file to determine financial need.
- L. C. Anderson Scholarship
- Edward L. Blackshear Scholarship
- J. G. Osborne Scholarship
- Alvin I. Thomas Scholarship
- W. R. Banks Graduate Fellowship
L. C. Anderson Scholarship
About Principal Anderson
L.C. Anderson became principal of Prairie View A&M in 1885 and served for 12 years. He was also the founder of the dynamic and politically active Colored Teachers Association of Texas. He managed a college budget of $39,000 and staff of 11 instructors in what was essentially a normal school program. The grey stone administration building was erected in 1890, and Prairie View became embroiled in an intense and sometimes bitter legislative and political debate over the status and future of the college. The Twentieth Legislature agreed to the attachment of an Agricultural and Mechanical Department to the normal School, and the Hatch Act brought the college a branch of the Experiment Station. Other facilities erected included an academic hall, six cottages for teachers, a brick mechanics shop, and artesian wells.
To be eligible for the L. C. Anderson Scholarship, students must:
- Be a Texas resident;
- Be classified as a freshman;
- Be enrolled as a full-time student (12 credit hours minimum per semester);
- Must have a 2.5 cumulative GPA or higher
- Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress while at the University; and,
- Demonstrate a financial need as determined by the FAFSA
Award Amounts
Eligible students may be awarded up to $2,000.00 for the period of one academic year. (Based upon available funding)
Edward L. Blackshear Scholarship
About Principal Blackshear
In 1897, Edward L. Blackshear was elected principal of the college, and he served until 1915. During his tenure, the curriculum and the physical plant grew significantly. In 1889, the Twenty-sixth Legislature changed the name of the school to Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College, and the new name reflected the expansion of the curriculum. The Twenty-seventh Legislature, in 1901, authorized the school to offer a four-year course of study that included the Academy and Normal School in four Divisions: education, agriculture, home economics and mechanical arts. A diploma and bachelor of science degree were given upon completion of any curriculum. The first three degrees were granted in 1903. New additions to the physical plant during this period included two dormitories for men, Foster Hall and Luckie Hall (1909), Crawford Hall for women (1912), and a combination auditorium/dining hall (1911).
To be eligible for the E. L. Blackshear Scholarship, students must:
- Be a Texas resident;
- Be classified as a Sophomore; no less than 30 credit hours, no more than 59 credit hours
- Must have a cumulative GPA of 2.50 or greater;
- Must be enrolled as a full-time student (12 credit hours minimum per semester);
- Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress while at the University; and,
- Demonstrate a financial need as determined by the FAFSA.
Award Amounts
Eligible students may be awarded up to $2,000.00 for the period of one academic year. (Based upon available funding)
J. G. Osborne Scholarship
About Principal Osborne
The sixth principal of Prairie View was J.G. Osborne, whose tenure lasted from 1918 to 1925. The nursing division was established in 1918, and six buildings were added to the campus in 1924 and 1925: a veterinary hospital, science building, college exchange, elementary training school, home economics practice cottage, and music conservatory. The four-year senior college program was begun in 1919 and included training in vocational home economics, vocational agriculture, liberal arts, and mechanical arts.
To be eligible for the J. G. Osborne Scholarship, students must:
- Be a Texas resident;
- Be classified as a Junior; no less than 60 credit hours, no more than 89 credit hours
- Must have a cumulative GPA pf 2.50 or greater;
- Be enrolled as a full-time student (12 credit hours minimum per semester);
- Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress while at the University; and,
- Demonstrate a financial need as determined by the FAFSA.
Award Amounts
Eligible students may be awarded up to $2,000.00 for the period of one academic year. (Based upon available funding)
Alvin I. Thomas Scholarship
About President Thomas
Dr. Alvin I. Thomas, elected as the third president of Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College in November 1966, introduced the residential college concept. As Prairie View A&M’s centennial approached, the Board of Regents of the newly-titled Texas A&M University System, at the request of President Thomas, appointed 79 persons to a Centennial Planning Council and charged them with formulating a new master plan for Prairie View A&M for the 1970’s. After 16 months of serious study, the council’s recommendations were published in a document entitled “A Developmental Plan, 1970-80, Prairie View A&M College of Texas.” As an outgrowth of this plan and recommendations to the state legislature, the name of the institution was again changed to Prairie View A&M University, and its status as an independent unit of the Texas A&M University System was reconfirmed. The System Board of Regents, in the fall of 1970, sold in excess of $13 million in bonds for the construction of two new residence halls and a dining facility. The residence halls, accommodating 1,500 students, were opened for occupancy in August of 1972.
The dining facility, now known as Alumni Hall, was opened in the second semester of the 1972-73 academic year. Other major construction completed during the following decade included the fire and security building, Farrell Hall Laundry, Burleson-Ware ROTC Building, Hobart Taylor Hall, the engineering building, and the Owens-Franklin Health Center. In 1980-81, the state of Texas purchased and renovated a building in the Texas Medical Center complex to be used as clinical nursing center for the College of Nursing. In 1981-82, broadcasting began from newly constructed facilities of FCC-approved KPVU-FM at Prairie View, an instructional laboratory of the Department of Communications. In 1981, the Texas legislature officially recognized Prairie View as not only a general purpose university but also as “special purpose institution” providing services to students of “diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.” The physical plant, valued at approximately $12 million in 1966, was valued at more than $50 million at this time. Curricula offerings, research, and Cooperative Extension activities had been greatly enhanced.
To be eligible for the A. I. Thomas Scholarship, students must:
- Be a Texas resident;
- Be classified as a Senior; no less than 90 credit hours, no more than 150% of required attempted credit hours to complete degree plan
- Must have a cumulative GPA of 2.50 or greater;
- Be enrolled as a full-time student (12 credit hours minimum per semester);
- Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress while at the University; and,
- Demonstrate a financial need as determined by the FAFSA
Award Amounts
Eligible students may be awarded up to $1,000.00 for the period of one academic year. (Based upon available funding)
W. R. Banks Graduate Fellowship
About Principal Banks
W.R. Banks became principal in 1926 and served until his retirement in August 1947, when he was named principal emeritus. During this period, the physical plant doubled in size with the addition of a dining hall, a hospital, three apartment buildings for male teachers, three dormitories for women, a greenhouse, an incubator house, a classroom building, an NYA resident center , a library, and more than 60 cottages for faculty families.
The Senior Academy was discontinued in 1930 and the division of Education was renamed the College of Arts and Sciences with major department in teacher-training. The Division of Graduate Study was organized in 1937, offering Master of Science degrees in agricultural economics, rural education, agricultural education, school administration and supervision, and rural sociology.
The name Prairie View Normal and Industrial College was changed by the Forty-Ninth Legislature in 1945 to Prairie View University, and the school was authorized to offer, “as the need arises”, all courses offered at the University of Texas.
To be eligible for the W.R. Banks Graduate Fellowship, students must:
- Be a Texas resident;
- Be classified as a Graduate student; (priority given to students who have over 54 earned graduate credit hours)
- Must have a cumulative and semester GPA of 3.00 or greater;
- Complete half-time course load (6 credit hours minimum per semester);
- Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress while at the University; and,
- Demonstrate a financial need as determined by the FAFSA
Award Amounts
Eligible students may be awarded up to $3,000.00 for the period of one academic year. (Based upon available funding)
