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Dan and Jeniffer Gilbert (courtesy photo)
Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and wife Jennifer Gilbert, both Michigan State University graduates, announced Wednesday a donation of $15 million from their family foundation to help build a new addition and renovate the Breslin Center at MSU.
The gift also will support two MSU programs; the Detroit Scholars Program (DSP) and the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities, according to MSU Today, the school publication.
The publication writes this about the two programs:
The DSP provides academic support and scholarships for Detroit-based students attending MSU, including those who are the first in their families to attend college or who have come from academically disadvantaged backgrounds. Michigan State enrolled 109 Detroit Promise Scholars in the 2016-17 academic year, the inaugural year for the program. The Gilberts’ gift will provide funding to enhance counseling and support services to ensure a high level of retention and improve the chances of success for these students from Detroit.
The RCPD works with nearly 2,000 students each year at MSU to find solutions to the challenges that people with disabilities face in higher education, making the campus accessible to those who are visually impaired or deaf, have mobility challenges, learning disabilities, chronic health or mental health conditions or are on the autism spectrum.
“Michigan State has played a large role in both of our lives and we are honored to support the university. Coach Izzo and Mark Hollis have built Spartan basketball into one of the nation’s premier programs,” Gilbert said in a statement. “Additionally, it is important that students of all backgrounds, including young Detroiters, realize their maximum potential and are exposed to the opportunities that higher education provides.”
