Yellowjacket Access Scholarship

The Yellowjacket Access Scholarship is a retention initiative that strategically targets students whose persistence is most impacted by financial need.

In 2019, the 66th Montana Legislature approved $2 million in state need-based student aid that, when matched one-to-one by private donations from the campus foundations, provided $4 million in financial aid for students across the Montana University System (MUS). The MSU Billings Foundation was charged with raising $220,000 to earn our $220,000 match over two years. We did it, thanks to donor support. But the real victory is what we learned about student retention. By strategically targeting students whose persistence is most influenced by financial need, we increased retention of new and continuing students – and graduated more than a quarter of the continuing students. We aim to replicate that success with the Yellowjacket Access Scholarship. In the fiscal year 2021-2022, we want to raise $200,000. We seek donor support in two ways: donors willing to provide a 1:1 match, and donors to help us meet that match. Donors can leverage their gift to do twice the good for MSU Billings students.