The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private, independent foundation which provides scholarship programs to gifted students in the U.S. who have financial need. It offers academic advising and other support services to students from 8th grade to graduate school. Since 2000, it has awarded over $175 million in scholarships to nearly 2,300 students and more than $97 million in grants to organizations that serve gifted low-income students. 
History.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation was launched in 2000, funded by a bequest from entrepreneur and sports team owner Jack Kent Cooke, who died in 1997. 
Cooke had to leave high school in Canada in 1930 before graduating in order to help support his family during the Great Depression. He later went on to amass a fortune and move to the United States, eventually acquiring the Washington Redskins football team.
In his will, Cooke made provisions for the sale of the Redskins and some of his other assets to create a foundation to help gifted students with financial need to afford a college education.
The first executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation was Matthew J. Quinn, serving from 2000 to 2009, when Harvard University psychologist Lawrence Kutner succeeded him. Harold O. Levy, a former New York City schools chancellor, led the foundation from September 2014 through May 2018. Current Executive Director Giuseppe “Seppy” Basili assumed the role in June 2018.
Scholarships and awards.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has awarded more than $175 million in scholarship assistance to nearly 2,300 high school and college students.
Cooke College Scholars and Undergraduate Transfer Scholars can receive up to $40,000 annually to cover tuition, living expenses, books and fees. In addition, the students who hold these scholarships are eligible to apply for a graduate school scholarship worth up to $50,000 a year, which is renewable for up to four years. Cooke International Awards at the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge are worth up to $85,000 a year for graduate study.
Scholarships for high school, undergraduate and graduate students include academic advising, access to internship opportunities, funding for study abroad, and opportunities to network with other Cooke Scholars and alumni.
Here is a list of current Cooke Scholarship and Awards Programs:
Cooke Prize.
The Cooke Prize for Equity in Educational Excellence is a $1 million award given to an elite college or university with a record of admitting, supporting, and graduating outstanding low-income students.
The Cooke Prize was first awarded in 2015, going to Vassar College in New York. In 2016, the prize was awarded to Amherst College in Massachusetts.
In the 2015–16 academic year 23 percent of Vassar's freshmen were low-income students (those receiving federal Pell Grants). Nearly 25 percent of Amherst students were receiving Pell Grants.
Grants.
The Cooke Foundation awards grants to support strategic initiatives to expand educational opportunities for gifted, low-income students.
Grants to organizations working with such students in grades K-12 support programs that allow students to take extracurricular enrichment courses and thus prepare them for higher education.
Grants to colleges and universities provide funding for support programs that help low-income students adjust to college, succeed once enrolled and graduate on time. Grants fall into four broad categories: college access and excellence; academic achievement; artistic advancement; and local support.
Research.
In addition to operating its scholarship and grant programs, the Cooke Foundation conducts research on gifted students with financial need.
One of the foundation's studies, issued in early 2016, is called "True Merit: Ensuring Our Brightest Students Have Access to Our Best Colleges and Universities." The report concluded that top colleges and universities in the United States continue to use outdated and inaccurate measures of student ability to deny admission to many outstanding low-income students. The study found that 3 percent of students at the most selective schools come from the 25 percent of families with the lowest incomes. In contrast, 72 percent of students at the top schools come from the wealthiest 25 percent of the U.S. population.
Earlier research by the Cooke Foundation that examined the challenges faced by highly talented students with financial need includes:
References.
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