This past spring a new scholarship program was established by the North Carolina state legislature to benefit students at North Carolina Central University in Durham and North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. The Cheatham-White Scholarships will be offered to students entering these two historically Black universities in the fall of 2018. They will offer full-tuition scholarships for four years and are valued at about $75,000.
North Carolina Central University announced that it will match the state appropriation dollar-for-dollar, allowing the university to award 20 Cheatham-White Scholarships each year. The scholarships will cover tuition, room and board, fees, books, supplies and personal expenses. Each scholar will also receive a laptop computer.
High schools across the state may nominate students for the scholarships. To be eligible, students must have straight-A grade point averages and scores in the 90th percentile on college entrance examinations. Recipients will have to show considerable extracurricular activities, leadership, and a commitment to community service. Students do not have to live in North Carolina to be eligible for the scholarships.
The scholarship program is named for Henry P. Cheatham and George Henry White, two African Americans who were born into slavery but later served in the U.S. House of Representatives in the post-Reconstruction era.
