Opening Doors to Success Couple's Gift to Provide Fully Funded Scholarships

Jennifer Adger Grant and Gerald Grant Jr., shown here with College of Business Dean David Klock, hope their endowed scholarship will ease financial pressures on students.

A two-time graduate of Florida International University's College of Business, Gerald C. Grant Jr. '78, MBA '89 worked two jobs to pay his way through school as a full-time student. After initially struggling in the classroom, he quickly realized that success was in his own hands. So he got back on track by pursuing career counseling and tutoring, which led him to form good study habits and switch majors to better complement his interpersonal skills.

Gerald proved that excelling academically was a choice, and now he and his wife, Jennifer Adger Grant, are two of the college's benefactors who seek to give more students access to higher education. The couple recently pledged a $1 million endowed gift to support this goal in perpetuity.

The Grant's milestone gift is FIU's largest to date from an African-American alumnus, and Gerald hopes it will make a powerful statement about perseverance and paying it forward.

The planned gift, in the form of a life insurance policy, will establish the Gerald C. Grant Jr. and Jennifer Adger Grant Scholarship Fund, which will provide eligible FIU College of Business students with fully funded undergraduate scholarships.

"We wanted to offer scholarships to students who may not otherwise go to college due to [finances]," Jennifer says. "Gerald and I have backgrounds in business [and felt compelled] to contribute to an area that has impacted us both."

The couple hopes the scholarships will help offset the costs of earning a college degree and lessen students' burden of having to maintain a balance between school and work.

The Grants' planned gift is also a strategic way to leverage resources and make a lasting impact.

"State funding is not sufficient to cover the needs of our students," Gerald says. "It's going to take all of us to help make our community better."

As a member of the FIU Board of Trustees and dedicated donor since the early 1990s, Gerald challenges fellow alumni to "give back in a big way." Gerald serves as the Branch Director of Financial Planning for AXA Advisors' South Florida branch and is the author of "Bold Moves to Creating Financial Wealth."

Place of Opportunity

Gerald's affinity to the College of Business is deeply rooted in its mission to prepare students to excel in the real world.

"The principles I learned back then are clearly seen now in the workplace," he says. "The college is all about elevating the University to a new level of excellence."

David R. Klock, Dean of the College of Business, agrees. His career has spanned leadership positions in both academia and business. David says more donors like the Grants are needed to support exceptional students with financial need.

"Many are first generation college students who come from modest incomes," David says. "We want them to think of FIU as the place where they can [learn] the skills they need to be successful. It is a place of opportunity."

Education is the key to economic growth, David says, and "economic growth is having a workforce that is highly educated." For David and the Grants, philanthropy will play a critical role in helping the FIU College of Business reach its next horizon.

"We are asking people who have been blessed and have had success to invest back into high-quality education," David says.

Create Your Legacy

Join Gerald C. Grant Jr. in investing in the future of FIU by making a planned gift to the University. Contact us to get started.