Albertson Foundation donates $20M to get more Idahoans to attend college

BOISE -- On Monday, the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation announced the official launch of its "Go On" campaign; a $20 million intiative to get Idaho students to "go on" to college.

It's right in line with the mission of this foundation, but its gifts are usually quietly dolled out to deserving recipients.

 

This time, they're going very public in hopes that others will join their efforts.

"We're really excited about the possibilities it's going to bring to Idaho students, but it was a little bit of a leap of faith," said Jamie MacMillan, executive director of the J.A. & Kathryn Albertson Foundation.

A leap of faith for Idaho's future. 

As things stand now, Idaho students are among the least likely in the nation to go on to graduate from college, 43rd in the nation.

"Our hope is that by 2015 we'll have 50 percent of Idahoans that have some sort of post-secondary training and that would really put us on a level playing field with some of the top performing states," said MacMillan.

Leading the charge is Jamie MacMillan, the foundation's executive director and the great-granddaughter of Joe Albertson. In her only in-person interview, she reflected on how her great-grandfather would feel about this educational effort.

"He was a great business entrepreuner and pioneer, but one thing that he always regretted was that he didn't have the opportunity to finish his college career. I think he would be proud of the effort of trying to give more Idahoans the opportunity he felt he missed out on."

The $20 million will be divided three ways, with $11 million going toward statewide scholarships, $6 million into efforts to increase equal educational opportunities to those in rural communities and $3 million to raise awareness, in part, through multi-media advertising directed at high schoolers.