UMKC, Bloch Foundations Roll Out $20 Million Scholarship Program

Since his arrival on the UMKC campus last summer, Chancellor Mauli Agrawal has talked about the need for the university to increase both its enrollment and the numbers of graduates entering the regional work force. Today, UMKC backed up that goal, in concert with the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation, the H & R Block Foundation and the University of Missouri System, by unveiling a new $20-million scholarship program, aimed at making degree attainment more affordable for hundreds of prospective students.

Over the next nine years, UMKC said in a news release, roughly 800 students will receive scholarship assistance through the program. The two foundations will provide $10 million, to be matched by a combined $10 million from UMKC and two UM System scholarship programs: the Promise and Opportunity Scholarships program, and the Next Generation Merit Program.

It’s UMKC’s second $20 million scholarship initiative announced since November, when a similar program was unveiled in concert with KC Scholars.

“The name Bloch is synonymous with generosity, leadership and service, on this campus and in this community,” Agrawal said in the prepared announcement. “This wonderful gift will change the lives of hundreds of individuals, who in turn will go on to produce lifelong benefits to this community. This is one more example of how one family, and one company, can literally change the course of an entire community for the better.” 

Thomas Bloch, chairman of both the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation and the H&R Block Foundation, said the new program reflects the continued confidence that the Bloch family and the H&R Block Foundation have in UMKC, the MU system and in the region’s students. “We are proud to support these opportunities, because we know what an investment like this means to the future of Kansas City,” he said.