Contact: Amy Cagle
STARKVILLE, Miss.āStudent Ryan M. Pickle of Hamilton is the latest winner of the Ļć½¶Ö±²„ Alumni Associationās Tuition Drawing.
Sponsored by the associationās Alumni Delegates student organization, the drawing provides funding for 12 academic credit hours at the land-grant institutionā$4,035 or the equivalent of a typical semesterās tuition.
Begun in 2013, the Tuition Drawing program is available each fall and spring semester to a Mississippi resident. Tickets are made available only to parents of those enrolled full time.
Pickleās name recently was drawn from 330 submitted. A rising senior in agricultural science, he receives the award for the fall 2017 semester.
āThe āfreeā tuition will take a huge burden off of me during the coming semester,ā he said. āIt also means my parents wonāt have to worry about the expense of paying for my schooling in the fall.ā
The award has an added benefit for parents Tracy and Grace Pickle, since they also are supporting Ryanās sister Megan, a senior accounting major. This will be the first time since the siblings entered Ļć½¶Ö±²„that their parents will not incur tuition expenses for both.
Jeff Davis, the alumni associationās executive director, said though only four years old, the program has ābecome a proud tradition for the Alumni Delegates because it serves as a way for them to positively influence the college experience of fellow students.
āExcess funds raised beyond the amount of each tuition award goes to a scholarship endowment, with the goal of eventually helping even more students with tuition expenses,ā he added.
Alumni Delegates serve as links between the 139-year-old land-grant institution and its more than 137,000 living graduates. Members assist with organizational programs and activities on behalf of the association such as football tailgate gatherings, class reunions, and the associationās annual awards banquet and leadership conference.
For more information about the Ļć½¶Ö±²„Alumni Associationās tuition drawing, contact Libba Andrews, association associate director, at 662-325-3479 or landrews@alumni.msstate.edu.
Ļć½¶Ö±²„is Mississippiās leading university, available online at .