A major financial gift will provide critical living-cost support for low- and middle-income scholars at the University of Texas at San Antonio, campus administrators confirmed. Philanthropist Harvey Najim has contributed $5 million to the university to establish a dedicated fund targeted at helping undergraduates manage everyday survival expenses while completing their degrees.
The multi-million-dollar gift creates the Harvey Najim Bold Promise Scholarship, an initiative designed to distribute $500,000 each year over a 10-year span. This funding stream will directly assist scholars enrolled in the institution's existing Bold Promise program, which currently waives full tuition and mandatory campus fees.
While tuition assistance relieves a massive portion of the educational price tag, essential non-tuition costs often remain a formidable barrier for degree seekers. The new scholarship is structured specifically to alleviate these burdens by providing monetary help for off-campus rent, daily groceries, course textbooks, and regular transportation.
University leaders noted that offsetting these routine living expenditures is critical for academic persistence. By offering direct aid for basic necessities, the program seeks to ensure that recipients can dedicate their full attention to academic coursework rather than having to juggle multiple employment opportunities merely to survive.
With this latest contribution, Najim’s cumulative financial support for the University of Texas at San Antonio has surpassed $25 million. This milestone solidifies his reputation as one of the most transformative donors backing student-centric initiatives and academic success programs across the campus community.
In discussing the motivation behind his continued financial support, Najim underscored the societal value of accessible higher education. He affirmed that educational achievement has the capacity to uplift individual lives while simultaneously strengthening broader regional communities, noting that he has directly observed the resolve and capabilities of the university's student body.
UTSA President Taylor Eighmy highlighted the profound impact of the contribution, commending Najim for his steadfast investment in the institution. Eighmy stated that the generous endowment builds upon a long track record of opportunities the donor has established for emerging scholars throughout both the university and the surrounding region.
To qualify for funding from the new Harvey Najim Bold Promise Scholarship, applicants must already be active participants in the overarching Bold Promise program. Eligible cohorts include undergraduates attending UTSA, students at the UT San Antonio Health Science Center, and transfer students matriculating from the Alamo Colleges District's AlamoPROMISE pathway.
Geographic criteria also govern the allocation of the awards. Recipients are required to maintain permanent residency within Bexar County or one of seven designated neighboring counties: Atascosa, Bandera, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina, or Wilson.
The foundational Bold Promise program itself offers an extensive safety net by covering 100% of tuition and mandatory institutional fees for four full academic years. It serves qualified Texas residents who demonstrate academic readiness as incoming first-time freshmen or eligible transfer students and come from households earning within established income boundaries.
Originally introduced by UTSA in December 2019, the Bold Promise framework initially targeted first-time freshmen who graduated in the top quartile of their high school classes and had an annual family income capped at $50,500. Over time, university leadership broadened the criteria to embrace qualified transfer students seeking their bachelor's degrees.
Access broadened dramatically in 2024 when the University of Texas System raised the family income ceiling to $100,000 across its nine academic institutions. That policy adjustment opened tuition-free pathways to an estimated seven million additional Texas families, significantly expanding the institutional reach of the financial aid model.
Since its rollout, the Bold Promise program has supported more than 5,000 students at UTSA alone. The initiative has served as a cornerstone of the university’s broader effort to keep undergraduate education accessible to students from economically diverse backgrounds across South Texas.
The new $5 million scholarship commitment follows another significant basic-needs initiative spearheaded by Najim in the previous year. That effort involved a $1.25 million joint gift to UTSA and the San Antonio Food Bank, structured as $125,000 annual disbursements over a 10-year timeline to sustain campus food pantries at both the Loop 1604 and downtown facilities.
By addressing critical gaps in housing, food security, and day-to-day transit, this latest 10-year funding framework is slated to reinforce UTSA's retention efforts, ensuring that eligible students can successfully balance campus life with their financial realities from matriculation through graduation.
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