Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave more multimillion donations out to colleges.
picture alliance/Getty Images
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is at it again with another round of gifts.
Robeson Community College in North Carolina announced a $24 million gift from Scott on Thursday, the single largest contribution in the rural college’s history.
Robeson’s president, Melissa Singler, called the gift “a profound affirmation of our students, our faculty and staff, and the limitless potential of Robeson County.”
“Never before have we been given a gift of this magnitude that affords our team the time, space and freedom to think, dream and plan boldly,” Singler said in a news release.
Scott also gifted Carl Albert State College in Oklahoma $23 million. The college is working on a strategic plan for how to use the funds, focused on “sustainability, academic and career success, innovation, and community engagement,” according to an announcement last week. Connors State College, also in Oklahoma, celebrated a $15 million contribution from Scott, its largest gift ever.
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College also announced a “multi-million dollar gift” last week, the largest unrestricted gift in its history, but didn’t specify the amount. The tribal college plans to use Scott’s funding to support scholarships and grants for native and non-native students.
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott continued her latest giving spree this week, showering millions of dollars on another slew of higher ed institutions.
Scott gave $50 million each to California State University, East Bay, the largest single donation in the university’s history, and to Lehman College, part of the City University of New York system, according to announcements from the institutions on Thursday. (Scott also gifted Lehman College $20 million in 2020 and has given a total of $125 million to campuses across the CUNY system in the last five years.)
Holiday shopping doesn’t need to empty your wallet or your sanity bar. Here’s a lineup of fun little treasures for friends, family or that one person who says “I don’t need anything” every year.
This list features 22 highly rated and well received items handpicked by Student Life Network!
P.s. You can also totally gift these to the most deserving person on planet earth… YOU! Treat Yo-self
*Prices reflect the date of November 28, 2025.
Flower candle warmer lamp
~$31+ (after tax)
For: Candle lovers who want the scent without worrying about an open flame.
For: People who always run low on battery when out. Perfect for small pockets and purses while packing a full charge. Make sure you get the charging port that’s compatible!
Pro tip: Students get a 6-month trial of Amazon Prime for FREE! Start your trial today and get fast two-day shipping as well as exclusive perks on affiliated services (Prime Video, Twitch, Prime Photos).
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.
Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is on another donation spree, giving more than $740 million total to over a dozen historically Black colleges and universities, as well as at least one tribal college since mid-October.
In 2019 — the same year Scott and her ex-husband, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, divorced — she pledged to give away most of her wealth. Scott’s fortune is estimated to be worth $38.7 billion, according to Bloomberg.
On Thursday, Little Priest Tribal College, in Nebraska, said it received a $5 million donation from the billionaire philanthropist. The institution — the first tribal college to publicly announce a gift from Scott during her latest donation blitz — said it would use the gift to accelerate plans to develop a new 10-acre campus.
So far, Howard University, in Washington, D.C., has garnered the largest among Scott’s recent gifts to colleges. Earlier this month, the philanthropist donated the research university $80 million, earmarking $17 million of that amount for its medical college.
Most of the colleges have received gifts from Scott before.
Scott has made mass donations to higher education institutions in previous years — by 2021, she had given at least $1.5 billion total to roughly six dozen institutions. Her other rounds of donations have likewise focused on minority-serving institutions, such as Hispanic-serving institutions and HBCUs.
Below, we’re rounding up colleges that have received gifts from Scott in her latest donation spree. Let us know if we’ve missed any announcements.
Scott has given over $700M to colleges in latest donation spree
The gifts higher education institutions have received from Scott in recent months
The Education Department is investigating the University of California, Berkeley, regarding compliance with a federal law that requires colleges to disclose certain foreign gifts and contracts.
A notice of the investigation and corresponding records requests were sent to UC Berkeley on Friday morning after the department found that the university’s disclosures might be incomplete.
“There have been widespread media reports over the last several years of Berkeley’s very substantial—in the hundreds of millions of dollars—receipt of money from foreign governments, in this case, particularly China,” a senior Education Department official said on a press call Friday. But while the development of “important technologies” has been shared with foreign nations, the funding that made it possible “has not been reported to the department, as it’s required by law,” in Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, the official added.
Under Section 117, colleges and universities must report twice a year all grants and contracts with foreign entities that are worth more than $250,000. The department opened a similar review into Harvard last week.
UC Berkeley administrators will have 30 days to respond with the requested records. From there, the Department of Education’s general counsel, in partnership with the Departments of Justice and Treasury, will “verify the degree to which UC Berkeley is or is not compliant.” (Unlike with Harvard, the Department of Education did not disclose the specific records it had requested from Berkeley.)
“The Biden-Harris Administration turned a blind eye to colleges and universities’ legal obligations by deprioritizing oversight and allowing foreign gifts to pour onto American campuses,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a news release. “I have great confidence in my Office of General Counsel to investigate these matters fully.”
Trump and congressional Republicans have been trying to crack down on the enforcement of Section 117 since the first Trump administration. Already this year, House Republicans passed a bill, known as the DETERRENT Act, which would lower the general threshold required for reporting foreign donations from $250,000 to $50,000. Gifts from some countries, like China and Russia, would have to be reported no matter the value. The Senate has yet to move forward with the bill.
When asked how Trump’s executive order differentiates itself from the DETERRENT Act, the department official said the legislation would be “entirely consistent with the EO’s directives” and that the department is “very supportive” of congressional Republicans’ efforts.
“The EO basically just says, enforce the law vigorously, return to enforcement of the law, stop the nonsense and work with other agencies to do it,” the official explained. “So whether the reporting requirement is for $250,000 or more per year or the lower threshold, our approach will be the same.”
Inside Higher Ed asked the department if there would be more investigations but has not yet received a response.
The VERY BEST Financial Gift we could give our kids is to not be dependent on them financially later in our lives, while they are trying to raise and educate their kids.
Most parents love their kids dearly and would die for them. My question is always – “Should We?” Here are some decisions that start out with good intentions but could actually end up having bad consequences for our loved ones.
Getting a Parent PLUS loan that the student has to pay.
There is a reason that there is a limit on how much the government will lend to your student in their name. It’s because they should not have a massive burden coming out of college, and most students coming out of college cannot afford to pay more than the federal lending limit to them.
Many parents are struggling to fund college AND save for retirement at the same time. If you don’t have enough money to do both, then it is probably unwise to expect your children to pay back Parent Plus Loans that you have signed for.
Remember that if we have not saved enough for retirement and have depended on Parent loans to get the kids through college, then we might be reliant on help from our kids when we age. Is this what we really intended? Thanks a lot Dad!
Whole life insurance (The wrong type)
Whole Life insurance could be a great product if structured properly, but on the PARENTS. I have seen some policies purchased with kids insured, from the same company that they buy baby food from. These are horribly inefficient policies and, in most cases, a bad idea. Most times, insurance on young kids is much more expensive than insurance for parents.
Firstly, we should consider what the purpose of the insurance is. If we purchase with the kids as the insured, it only pay out if the child dies, which means it is pays out for your future grandchildren 2 generations away! Is that what we meant to happen? We should consider who we want to protect?
Typically, we would want to insure the parent who is the main breadwinner, so that if something happened to them, their spouse and children would not have to face devastating financial consequences. That way they would be leaving a positive legacy for the family and not a burden.
I STRONGLY advocate for good insurance, and personally practice what I preach so feel free to give me a call if you would like to see what is wise for your family.
If you want to purchase timeshare, do it for yourself, and accept the long-term consequences, but don’t burden your kids with it.
Here is something to think about:
* The Internal Revenue Service values your timeshare, and all timeshares, as worthless. * No legitimate charity wants your donated timeshare. Period.
If so, why would we think that our timeshare has any value. It has to be paid for each year and most people cannot GIVE their timeshare away. Don’t burden your kids by buying timeshare for them. With technology today and Airbnb we have so much more flexibility without the burden.
Champagne Taste on a Beer Budget
If our children leave our house with the expectation that everyone can go to a private school, vacation in Hawaii or France every year, shop at expensive stores and drive expensive cars, then we have probably done them a disservice.
Their first shock comes when they see their first paycheck, wonder why so much of it has gone to taxes and other deductions, and the realization that they have to pay for their own car and place to live. Sometimes we love to spoil our kids too much, but it ends up hurting them in the long run. The worst is when they realize that we cannot retire because we didn’t teach them.
Parent Financial Insecurity –I have saved the toughest one for last.
Remember the lecture we always get when we fly? “In the unlikely case of an emergency, put your own mask on before you help your children” This is the way it should be with our finances.
I speak to families all the time who have parents who are not financially stable, who could not control their spending, who did not save enough for retirement, or didn’t have life insurance when needed or Long Term Care, who are in such bad financial shape that their children spend their nights worrying about their parents.
One of the most wonderful financial gifts that we can give to our kids is our own financial security. That way we can be a blessing to our kids and not drag on their lives.
As a counter to the perhaps perceived negative connotation of what we should perhaps NOT be doing, here are some things that we might think of that we SHOULD be doing.
Five smart financial habits to teach our children early in life – can set them up for a future of success.
Someone told me once – the way to teach our kids the value of money, borrow some from them
The miracle of compounding – the earlier the better – As parents, we often wish we knew this
We Value What We Earn, Not What We Are Given
Allowances – Given or Earned? Allowances are not just about money, but what lessons we could teach our kids in the process. Humans learn a lot when we earn things because of effort and dedication, rather than just being given something. My daughter once worked really hard to earn a surfboard by walking around our neighborhood selling cookie dough for her school. I will never forget when I asked her how many people said “No” to her, she told me “I don’t know dad, I was just focused on getting 75 people to say “Yes”
It is a valuable lesson to see firsthand how effort translates into earnings and this in turn translates into the behaviors to become an “earner” in life.
Teach Your Kids How to Lose Money
Yes, lose money. You see, no matter what courses they take in high school or college around personal finance, there is no greater teacher for all of us in life on what NOT to do with our money until we experience losing some money.
No matter which custodian we help them set up a brokerage account with, perhaps we could get them started saving into some type of investment and sit down quarterly with them to track it and teach them how their investment is performing.
Have them pick one stock of their favorite company and even if they lose money, they win in the long-term gaining interest on how investments work and how to make good investment decisions.
Spending – Questions to ask first
Do I want it?
Do I need it?
Can I afford it?
If the answer to any of these is “No”, then probably think twice about it.
Only once we have SAVED money, should we use it for our WANTS
One thing that I learned in life is that giving early when you don’t make much, is really helpful rather than trying to start giving when you are making a lot. It just seems such a lot to get going when the number is high, but when it grows incrementally it becomes a great and rewarding habit.
I go back to my first statement – Most parents love their kids dearly and would die for them. My question is always – “Should We?”
If you would like to discuss how you can make wise decisions for Retirement Planning and College Planning for your family? Please don’t hesitate to contact Dave Coen to set up a no-cost consultation.
You can see more about my role as a Financial Advisor with SageView Advisory HERE
