Ashland Community and Technical College receives $1 million for new endowment

Recently, an anonymous donor to Ashland Community and Technical College has contributed $1 million to establish the Paying It Forward Endowment. The endowment will allow for the school to create new scholarship opportunities for the coming years to serve full-time, non-traditional students. 

While the donor did not want to have their identity made public, they did want to acknowledge the staff of the college, who provided the donor the education which enabled them to be able to make their donation.

The donor also noted that the endowment was created to honor their only child, Chris, who recently passed away. The endowment also reflects the desires of the donor who wishes to help others achieve their educational goals.

The donor graduated from Ashland around 30 years ago, and is noted to be an admirer of Benjamin Franklin who wrote in his autobiography that he wished to “do good.” The donor hopes to do good with this gift by investing in students who are working to better themselves and improve their figures, while also balancing the challenges and responsibilities that accompany returning to college later in life.

The Paying It Forward Endowment will allow for full-time, non-traditional ACTC students who are eligible to earn a scholarship starting in the Fall 2027 semester.

In an article posted on Ashland Community and Technical College's website, the school’s Advancement Administrator, Kim Minnehan-Jones, noted that, “This endowment represents so much more than a financial gift. It represents hope, opportunity and a belief in what is possible when someone is given the support they need to succeed. Working with this donor throughout the process has been incredibly meaningful. This gift will change lives by helping students overcome financial barriers and pursue an education that can transform their futures, their families and their communities.”

Ashland Community and Technical College’s commitment to removing barriers and creating pathways to success for students all over Kentucky are in line with the work that The Paying It Forward Endowment will do. Students attending college outside of the traditional pathways are usually balancing their college work with family, career, and other responsibilities, creating a large need for scholarship support to lessen the financial burden of working to complete their higher education journey.

Dr. Larry Ferguson, who serves as ACTC’s Chancellor, spoke on this topic, saying, “Community colleges exist to open doors, and this extraordinary gift will help ensure more students have the opportunity to walk through those doors. We are deeply grateful for the generosity and vision behind this endowment. The impact of this investment will be felt by students and families for generations.”

Full-time non-tradition students who wish to apply for the scholarships being made available through the Paying It Forward Endowment will be able to do so for the Fall 2027 onward.

More information about Ashland Community and Technical College can be found at the school’s website.