“I am inspired by the dedication, commitment, and hard work of the adult students at the Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Continuing Education. Please join me in promoting education and community service and rewarding continuing learners who reach for their dreams and bring the whole community with them.” — Alan Shawn Feinstein

True to his motto that “helping to better the lives of others is the greatest of all achievements,” Rhode Island’s legendary philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein, Hon. ’98 is presenting everyone with a unique opportunity to join in his quest to help college students one degree at a time.

Feinstein has pledged to fund a $500,000 challenge grant that will double the value of gifts of $12,500 or more to establish endowed scholarship funds at the University’s Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Continuing Education. These scholarships will help nontraditional students who are making changes in their lives to attend school and who contribute to their communities through service projects.

The new challenge grant will open the doors to help donors build support for continuing education at the University. Any individual, family, corporation, foundation, trust, estate, or other entity may participate in the Feinstein-URI Endowment Challenge.

Each new scholarship will be awarded annually. Scholarships may benefit both in-state and out-of-state students, may be need or merit based, and may be restricted or unrestricted as befits the intentions of the individual donors as long as the student recipients are enrolled in classes at ASFCCE.

For 60 years, URI has been serving adult learners at its College of Continuing Education—now named the Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Continuing Education—in downtown Providence. Each year, more than 4,000 nontraditional students enroll in both undergraduate and graduate courses at ASFCCE with an eye on fulfilling their educational goals while balancing work, family, and community obligations.

Eighty percent of these students work full time and 30 percent are single parents. Many go into debt to finance their dreams as they pursue careers in fields such as education, social work, and the sciences—careers that serve the public but that often have modest salaries. That is why scholarship funds are so critical to these students.