Colorado College in Colorado Springs has announced that it will receive $7.9 million over the next eight years from the Robert & Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust to strengthen the school's scholarship offerings and other programs.

A portion of the grant amounting to $3 million is contingent upon the college successfully raising $9 million in matching funds by July 2008. The resulting $12 million will be used to endow a scholarship fund for middle-income students. The school already has received a $600,000 contribution toward the challenge from an anonymous college trustee and former student parent. The gift from the Trust was made in honor of former college president Kathryn Mohrman, and recipients of the program will be dubbed Mohrman Scholars. In addition to the scholarship funding, the grant from the Trust will be used to enhance outreach and student recruitment in the Southwest, enrich student orientation and advising programs, and establish a new bridge program for students transitioning from high school to college.

"Our highest priority at Colorado College is student success," said college president Richard Celeste. "The Priddys' generous philanthropy will go a long way in helping us strengthen programs for prospective and current college students. Our aim, with this Priddy Trust boost, is to recruit the very best students from Colorado and the Southwest, and to give them the learning experiences and support they need not simply to graduate but also to become community leaders and productive world citizens."

Colorado College is one of six independent liberal arts and sciences colleges in the Southwest to receive grants from the Trust, which is based in Wichita Falls, Texas. Robert Priddy co-founded a drilling company that was later acquired by construction giant Bechtel Group.