The John Motley Morehead Foundation announced Thursday a $100-million donation to the Morehead Scholars Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The program-the oldest undergraduate merit scholarship program in the country-offers full tuition, room and board and summer stipends to students at UNC.
The contribution will enable the foundation to increase the number of scholarships offered each year from 50 to approximately 75 and will allow the program to expand international service, study and internship opportunities.
The Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation of Texas made the contribution, which will almost double the Morehead Foundation's funds.
"It is clear that the Morehead Foundation and the Cain Foundation share many values and philosophies," Mary Cain, widow of the late Gordon Cain, said in a statement. "We are pleased to make this gift and participate in the future of such an outstanding program."
Neither Gordon Cain nor Mary Cain was affiliated with UNC or the Morehead Foundation, but the Cain Foundation decided to support the program on the basis of the scholarship's ideals.
The foundation and the scholarship program now will be renamed the Morehead-Cain Foundation and the Morehead-Cain Scholarship Program.
Henry Spelman, a freshman at UNC and a current Morehead Scholar, said the program creates "scholars who are going to contribute to the community in the greatest number of ways possible."
The donation will make the scholarship available to more people without diluting the quality of the program, Spelman added.
Danny Randolph, a sophomore at UNC and a current Morehead Scholar, said he would like to see the donation go toward improving the quality of advising and expanding the summer enrichment program.
"One of the unique assets of the program is its alumni network," Randolph said. "This is a great opportunity to expand alumni outreach."
Junior Megan Tooley, a recipient of the B.N. Duke Scholarship-a similar program at Duke that provides full tuition and funds two summers of service-said increasing the number of scholarship recipients is a positive trend.
"One of the benefits of the [B. N. Duke] Program is that I met so many people-went through so much with them," Tooley said.
"More people in the program would mean more people to share the summer of service with-more people to share ideas with," she added.
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