March 20, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
A charitable foundation known for supporting scholarships for business students has told a handful of universities that it can no longer pay for the scholarships it committed to, forcing those institutions to dig into their own funds to support the students.
The Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation, based in Austin, Tex., supported scholarships in undergraduate business programs at six universities: Indiana University at Bloomington, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University at University Park, St. Edward’s University, Texas A&M University at College Station, and Texas State University at San Marcos.
It is not clear why the Mitte foundation, which stated its worth as $26-million in a 2006 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, ran out of money. News reports have said that Scott Mitte, the son of the founders, spent money lavishly as president of the foundation.
Market Downturn
In a letter to The Chronicle, the foundation’s lawyer said the foundation had been affected by the downturn in the financial markets and had decided to focus its scholarship program at Texas State at San Marcos, the founders’ alma mater, where the foundation has supplied $625,000 in scholarships every year.
Officials at Ohio State, Indiana, and Penn State were told last month that their scholarship money would not come through. Ohio State will have to support 17 students in the 2008-9 year, and eight students in the 2009-10 year, at about $5,300 each. Penn State’s business school is supporting about 15 students with an emergency reserve.
Scott Carlson is a senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education.
