Aggie doubles gift to finance program
A pledged donation that started at $10 million to support scholarships at Texas A&M University turned into a $20 million gift to also bolster academic programs and hiring, the university announced Monday.
The Mays Business School’s Department of Finance will soon be named after Adam Sinn, an Aggie who graduated in 2000 who owns the oil and energy trading company Aspire Commodities. He solidified the $20 million commitment last week through the Texas A&M Foundation.
“The main focus of it is releasing the financial burden off of some of these students so that in the future they can take a bet on themselves when they see that opportunity,” Sinn, 43, said in a video interview Friday, proudly sporting an A&M sweatshirt. “And hopefully they’ll pay it forward and help out somebody else.”
About $7.5 million from Sinn’s gift will support scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
The rest will help recruit top faculty and and create and expand high-impact programs for finance students, the university said. More than 1,000 students are enrolled in finance department programs for the 2021-22 academic year, a 30 percent increase in five years, according to a press release from the university.
“I applaud Mr. Sinn’s willingness to invest in our university,” M. Katherine Banks, the university’s president, said in the release. “Contributions such as these not only help elevate the department but provide a brighter future to our students for generations to come.”
Thinking back on his own financial constraints growing up, Sinn requested priority be given to applicants from his hometown of Hoopeston, Ill., and nearby Cissna Park, Ill., and Dorado, Puerto Rico, where he now lives.
If there aren’t enough applicants from those areas, the scholarships will be made available to students enrolled in the business school’s Trading, Risk and Investments Program, which prepares participants in the fields of energy trading, investments and risk management.
“My fear is that with the
rising cost of college tuition and inflation and macroeconomic stuff going on, that the cost of college is unattainable to basically anyone I grew up with, and that’s not reasonable,” Sinn said.
Sinn transferred to Texas A&M from Southern Methodist University. Scholarships and financial aid allowed him to graduate with only about $20,000 in student loan debt, he recalled, which helped him move forward faster in his career.
After working for several companies, he founded Aspire Commodities in 2009 and made his first donation to the university in 2013.
Sinn recalls his A&M classes were difficult and required a lot of effort. Asked how he felt about having his name represent the school of finance, he laughed and said, “I almost think it’s funny, because I never got an ‘A’ in that program.”
Sinn said he wants to help students most in need of it, so they can get an opportunity to succeed and find encouragement in the fact that somebody is rooting for them.
“I was just good enough to get a job and find my way in life and I just
feel like there’s probably a lot of students like me,” Sinn said. “You know, the 4.0 (grade point average), the brilliant students, the well-spoken students, they are going to make it … but the kid that has a 3.0, or a 2.5, they’ll struggle to get a job at Walmart, and when the economy is not on all cylinders, it’s just difficult for that person to get ahead.”
It’s not his first gift to his alma mater.
So far, Sinn estimates, he has given between $1.5 to $2 million to A&M’S athletics department and the business school. He plans to continue contributing when possible to A&M and other education organizations in the United States and Puerto Rico.