A record contribution to the University of St. Thomas is set to boost scholarship funding in the coming years, something the school says will be key to its success as the cost of a college education continues to grow.

The St. Paul-based Catholic university says a gift from the Schoeneckers Foundation will fund scholarships for 250 undergraduate students every year based on need. They expect the “historic” gift will allow the scholarship endowment to help thousands of students in the future.

The Schoeneckers Foundation declined to disclose the exact size of the donation, but St. Thomas said it was the largest the school has received. The last record donation for scholarships was $50 million in 2017 from the GHR Foundation. At the time it was a record contribution not just for St. Thomas, but Minnesota universities and colleges.

That year, St. Thomas set out to double the size of its scholarship endowment, and in the seven years since it has raised about $220 million, according to school officials. Now, St. Thomas is gearing up for another fundraising push focused on scholarships, something university President Rob Vischer said comes as the cost of education grows.

“One of the pressures we’re navigating now is that today’s college students have a lot greater financial need than past generations did,” he said. “And so what this gift does is it better equips and empowers us to meet the financial needs of today and tomorrow’s prospective students without compromising or jeopardizing the quality of the education we provide.”

More students with financial strain

Full tuition at St. Thomas is approximately $51,000 a year, up from around $41,000 in 2017. The mean student debt at graduation is $23,250, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Education.

Virtually all students at the school receive some kind of scholarship or financial aid, Vischer said, and about a quarter qualify for state grants or federal Pell Grants — which are reserved for students from families with lower incomes.

Vischer said St. Thomas has not had trouble attracting students in recent years as some other universities have, but more are coming to school with financial strain.

“We were founded in 1885 by Archbishop (John) Ireland in significant part to provide educational pathways for recent immigrants,” he said. “And so we want to make sure that that part of our mission is still front and center.”

Details on eligibility for the scholarships, which are set to become available in the 2025 school year, are still in the works, according to the university.

Unlike the last record donation, which was focused on helping promising business majors, the university will be able to use this contribution as it sees fit, said Larry Schoenecker, chair of the Schoeneckers Foundation and son of Guy Schoenecker, who died in 2016.

“It’s an unrestricted Scholarship Fund, so the university can pick the students that are most in need and most desirable for them,” he said. “As far as academic studies, we don’t really feel a need to push any particular discipline, just to help kids who probably are first-generation college students.”

A long commitment

Larry Schoenecker said his father got his start and inspiration at St. Thomas and had a long commitment to supporting the university that he hopes to continue. He said helping students afford tuition helps in the school’s Catholic mission.

Guy Schoenecker served on the board of the University of St. Thomas for 30 years and started an endowed scholarship in 1977, according to the school.

The Schoeneckers Foundation is named for Guy and Barbara Schoenecker. It had around $150 million in assets as of 2023, according to public tax filings. Guy Schoenecker graduated from St. Thomas in 1949 and started the international business loyalty and incentive company BI WORLDWIDE.

The foundation has been a major contributor to St. Thomas over the years, something the school says helped it grow from a small liberal arts college to into a university offering a wider range of programs. The new Schoenecker Center, which opened its doors in February, is home to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics programs.

To mark the foundation’s most recent donation, St. Thomas has renamed the Tommie North Residence Hall to Guy ’49 and Barbara Schoenecker Residence Hall North.