Pomona College gets aid to help refugees

School says it will use $1.2 million gift to help students fleeing global crises

With the help of a $1.2 million gift, Pomona College hopes to help student refugees fleeing crises across the globe.

Last week, the university, part the Claremont Colleges consortium, announced it is creating an endowment to support undergraduate students with financial need who are currently refugees or who have experienced refugee status during their lives or within their own families.

Made possible by a donation on behalf of alumnus and Trustee Paul Eckstein and his wife, Florence, the scholarship will honor Paul Eckstein’s parents, Liese and Albert Eckstein, who left Germany as Hitler consolidated power in 1936.“Our hope is that the students who receive this scholarship in my parents’ names will use their Pomona education to make a difference in their communities and chosen fields,” Paul Eckstein said in a statement.

“This is our small thumb on the scale to help them achieve the American dream and hopefully change all sorts of lives for the better,” he continued.

With the scholarship, the Ecksteins hope to see refugee students make an impact in the world with their education.

“Who knows if they will be Nobel Prize winners, great senators or wonderful writers or musicians?” Paul Eckstein said. “I like to dream and think this gift will in some way help facilitate that.”

In a statement, Pomona College President Gabrielle Starr thanked the Ecksteins for the gift and the legacy the endowment will promote.

“This extraordinary act of generosity in honor of Paul’s parents will impact the lives of generations to come and support students how and when they need it most,” Starr said.