Organization pledges $10.2 million to help start a new class to educate students and community on wise credit use

PHOENIX ÷ A Phoenix-based nonprofit organization has pledged to give the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences $10.2 million ÷ one of the biggest donations in the college's history -÷ to start courses to educate students and others on how to spend money and build credit.

The money ÷ $1 million of which is already in the bank ÷ will be put into an endowment and used to pay faculty members and two staff members to do research and educate people beyond the university about how to build and use credit.

The donation ranks among the top five largest donations the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has ever received, said Bryan Rowland, director of the development and alumni office in the college.

"This is one of the biggest cash donations in university history," said Tom Sanders, executive director of Campaign Arizona.

Most major donations come from wills or proceeds from donated property that is sold, Sanders said.

Undergraduates will have the option of enrolling in a three-credit course ÷ funded by the endowment ÷ on money management, long-term financial planning and credit use in fall 2004; the class would meet Tier I Individuals and Society requirements, said Melinda Burke, director of the Southwest Retail Center for Education and Research.

Take Charge America, the nonprofit organization founded to educate people on debt and money management that pledged the money, will donate another $200,000 this year so UA can hire a faculty member right away to teach the course. The organization has also pledged to donate $1 million per year over the next nine years.

The retail center, which is within the department of the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, will open a new institute that is named after the non-profit group.

President Pete Likins was on hand for the event, taking a break from a day spent lobbying legislators to spare UA from more budget cuts.

He thanked the organization's founder, Mike Hall, for the "generous," donation and said that this is an example of the sort of partnerships between business and learning of which UA needs more.

Hall sent the endowment to UA instead of Arizona State University, his alma mater, because a group of students that advises other students on how to build credit ÷ the Credit-Wise Cats ÷ approached him with the idea of funding more education on campus.