Education Fund

Scholarships

Through DeVry University's Education Fund, donors are free to give one-time gifts or create and award both specialized and general scholarships. These specific scholarships, usually set up as memorials, may be awarded once or may continue to be funded year after year. The Jim Saullo Scholarship is an example of an ongoing DVU Ed Fund scholarship that honors the life of a former DeVry student and helps make a DeVry education possible for someone else.

Jim Saullo Scholarship

DeVry Central Florida Jim Saullo Scholarship is named for a BSEET student who passed away in a tragic car accident midway through his program. He was in the first DeVry Orlando freshman class and quickly established himself as a leader with his classmates and others in the community. For example, Jim was the impetus behind DeVry Orlando's now very active support of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), supporting a local high school team in 2002, writing a grant proposal that culminated in DeVry Orlando's first $5,000 donation to FIRST and single-handedly leading the Evans high school team to its first-ever participation in the FIRST Central Florida competition.

When Jim died, his father, James Sr., and mother, Sue, established a $10,000 scholarship endowment through the DeVry University Education Fund.

"Once Jim started classes at DeVry, it was all he talked about," says his father. "DeVry meant everything to him. He told me that, since he was in the first EET class at the Orlando campus, every year felt like his 'senior' year. Going to DeVry changed my son's life he had always been a loner but he had found his place in life."

The Jim Saullo Scholarship provides those who loved him with an opportunity to change the lives of others. The fund has now provided four $1,000 scholarships to deserving EET students, each of whom has gone on to a great career.

"In many ways, Jim's influence is felt even today, as DeVry now supports more than 25 FIRST teams throughout the country and has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarship aid to deserving young people who've answered Jim's call to get involved," says Steve Brown, President, DeVry Central Florida. "In the end, this is perhaps the best possible way to remember a wonderful young man and his family - each is and will remain a member of the DeVry community of alumni and friends throughout the years ahead."

To learn more about the DVU Ed Fund and to make a donation, please email us.


Rita Rily Gross Memorial Scholarship

The Love Story of DVU Education Fund's Rita Rily Gross Memorial Scholarship

Rita Rily Gross was a remarkable woman. In her 82 years of life she juggled many responsibilities as a working, single parent of three in Cleveland, OH. Despite the fact that Rita herself was not afforded the opportunity to go to college, the importance of higher education she planted firmly in her family went on to flourish as all three children earned bachelor's degrees and went on to attain master's or professional degrees as well. Furthermore, the DeVry University family has been a lucky benefactor of Rita's passion for education in more ways than one.

Rita's daughter Kathy Wyse has been a part of DeVry's Student Finance team for more than 25 years, serving in various roles including Dean of Student Finance at the Phoenix Campus, and now Student Finance Consultant traveling across the DeVry University system as needed. So in the year 2000, when Rita passed away, Kathy's stepfather Milton Washington Gross thought it fitting to establish the Rita Rily Gross Memorial Scholarship through DeVry University's Education Fund. Gross wanted to ensure that the legacy of his beloved Rita would live on, and live on it did.

Not only does the fact that Rita's middle name "Rily" was coined by her husband standing for "Rita I Love You," but Milton Gross was adamant about the award serving as a symbol of something near and dear to Rita's heart, career success stemming from higher education. Since Rita spent the last 17 years of her life living in Phoenix, AZ, her memorial scholarship is designated for a student from DeVry's Phoenix metro area. The award must benefit a single parent, and is given to each year's recipient at graduation so the $1000 scholarship can be used to help with the expenses college graduates incur as they begin their careers. One final parameter of the scholarship is that the recipient must write a thank you note to Rita's family. Milton Gross proudly received those thank you letters until the time of his passing at age 98, and now they are directed to Kathy. Each time a winner is announced and a thank you note is delivered, Kathy fondly reflects on how pleased her mother would have been by the way her life is being commemorated at DeVry.

This fall will mark the eighth time the Rita Rily Gross Memorial Scholarship will be awarded. Among other things, the DeVry University Education Fund exists as a means by which outstanding individuals like Rita are remembered while enriching the lives of others. To learn more about the fund or to make a donation, email alumni@devry.edu.