The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation in Lansdowne, Virginia, has announced the recipients of its 2017 graduate scholarships.

Each of the fifty-three students, all of whom are previous recipients of Cooke Scholarships, will receive up to $200,000 each over four years to pursue graduate education. The scholarship program is designed to help high-achieving students bridge the gap between their means and the cost of graduate education, which averages roughly $30,000 a year at public universities and $40,000 a year at private universities. Drawn from a competitive pool of candidates who have demonstrated outstanding academic performance, leadership potential, and financial need, this year's class of Cooke Graduate Scholars are continuing their studies in a range of fields, including law, medicine, business, education, social work, and the fine and performing arts, at universities in the United States and abroad. 

According to the foundation, a number of the recipients previously received Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer scholarships, which help high-achieving community college students with exceptional academic qualifications and life experience transfer to four-year programs. One of them, Sean Moore, was a first-generation college student at the County College of Morris in New Jersey who, with the help of a Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship in 2013, transferred to Yale University. This fall, Moore is enrolled at the University of Oxford, Lincoln College, where he is studying for a master's degree in criminology and criminal justice.

For a complete list of the Cooke Foundation's 2017 Graduate Scholars, see the Cooke Foundation website.