Kochs Give $25M to Black College Fund

The United Negro College Fund has a surprising new fan. The group just received a $25 million grant from Koch Industries and the Charles Koch Foundation. The majority of the money will go toward providing for roughly 3,000 merit-based scholarships for black students, while $6.5 million will go toward support for historically black colleges and the UNCF. “We have tremendous respect for UNCF and we are hopeful this investment will further its effectiveness in helping students pursue their dreams,” Charles Koch said. Apparently Koch and the head of the fund, Michael Lomax, met over lunch and found they “shared a profound belief in the importance of education.” Perhaps to ward off an outcry, Lomax declared, “Criticism is a small price for helping young people get the chance to realize their dream of a college education, and if I’ve got to bear the brunt of someone else’s criticism to ensure that we have the resources to help those students, then I can handle it, and I can take the heat.”