Think Big. Work Hard. Achieve.

Think Big.
Work Hard.
Achieve.

Our Scholarships

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need.

Young Scholars Program

Offers the most personalized, generous scholarship and educational support to exceptionally promising students from families across the nation who have financial need.

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College Scholarship Program

An undergraduate scholarship program available to high-achieving high school seniors with financial need who seek to attend the nation’s best four-year colleges and universities.

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Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship

A highly-selective scholarship for the nation’s top community college students seeking to complete their bachelor’s degrees at selective four-year colleges or universities.

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Remembering Dr. Matthew J. Quinn

Remembering Dr. Matthew J. Quinn

We were saddened to hear this weekend of the passing of Dr. Matthew Quinn, who served as our founding executive director for more than a decade. Dr. Quinn transformed Mr. Cooke’s vision into a roadmap that guides our work even today. We have been able to cultivate our vibrant community of Cooke Scholars due largely to his contributions, and his legacy has endured beyond his tenure in both the Matthew J. Quinn Prize and the Quinn Youth Leadership Award. It also lives on in the support we provide each year to every student impacted by our work.

Read more about Dr. Quinn's impact
$190 Million
Awarded in Scholarships
2,500 Cooke Scholars
Current Scholars and Alumni
$100 Million
Awarded in Grants
Alessandro Bailetti

"The fact that I'm a minority scientist, the fact that I'm an immigrant, the fact that I went to a community college first," Alessandro said, "makes me want to also mentor those future scientists."

Alessandro Bailetti
Cooke Scholar
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Alessandro Bailetti

Alessandro Bailetti

After community college, Alessandro was planning on transferring to a good liberal arts school in Florida. Even when he found out he had been accepted to an Ivy League university, he thought he "wasn't good enough" for Cornell and considered rejecting the offer. Then he received the Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.
"I [was] an immigrant with only five years in the United States, with good enough English to pass through my classes," Alessandro recounted, "but I never thought I was good enough for Cornell. When I got the scholarship, that was the moment I said 'I can go to Cornell right now.'"
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