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Legendary basketball star LeBron James is doing something amazing. The athlete has announced that his foundation, the LeBron James Family Foundation program, is planning to pay for students’ college tuition.
Funding Thousands Of Students
The program is going to provide full scholarships for all qualifying students. At the moment, there are about 1,000 students enrolled in the program. The foundation will fund the students so that they can attend the University of Akron: a public school where a year’s worth of tuition costs nearly $9,500. To be eligible for the scholarships, the students must meet attendance and grade requirements. The first class that can take advantage of the initiative will graduate high school in 2021. The plan will extend to the graduating class of 2029. In total, the foundation is planning to provide as many as 2,300 scholarships. The initiative is in partnership with JP Morgan Chase, which will provide technical assistance in determining who is eligible for the scholarships; the company has pledged 4,000 man hours.
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A Super Star Athlete
James is an American professional basketball player who is currently playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. He has won two NBA championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, two NBA Finals MVP Awards, two Olympic gold medals, an NBA scoring title, and the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. But his life was not always so glamorous – his childhood was a struggle. His family moved from apartment to apartment in bad neighborhoods and his mother struggled to keep a job. In order to have a more stable home environment, James moved in with the family of Frank Walker, a local youth football coach. The coach introduced him to basketball when he was only nine years old, and the rest is history. James’ background may be inspiring him to help inner-city kids.
“This is very special to me. As a kid growing up in the inner city and as an African American kid, you don’t really think past high school because it’s not possible or your family can’t support you. For us to be able to do something like this … it means so much,” he said. “It means so much because, as a kid growing up in the inner city and a lot of African-American kids, you don’t really think past high school. You don’t really know your future.”
