Marymount foundation, La Sierra University form agreement to fund in-need students’ tuition

Through the agreement, students will be chosen annually, beginning spring 2025, to receive a Marymount Scholars Program scholarship via a collaborative selection process between Marymount and La Sierra’s admissions office. The students, who must have completed high school with a B average GPA and arrive from a disadvantaged background, may qualify for up to $25,000 per year through the program to be paid directly into their tuition accounts at the university.

“We immediately saw the alignment of values and mission." -- Robyn Jones, Executive Director, Marymount Education Foundation

“We immediately saw the alignment of values and mission, it just felt really right,” said Robyn Jones, executive director of the Marymount Education Foundation when describing her first visit to La Sierra’s campus. “What I’m really looking forward to is working with you all often and closely. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” she said during the meeting with La Sierra representatives in the university’s Administration building.

The nonprofit 501c3 public benefit corporation was incorporated Sept. 1, 2022 to carry on Marymount California University’s mission of transforming lives through access to education. The former 54-year-old private Catholic university in Rancho Palos Verdes closed in fall 2022 due to financial difficulties and declining enrollment.

The agreement with La Sierra University is the third of its kind for the Marymount foundation. The partnership relies on a sharing of administrative duties and dovetailing with La Sierra’s enrollment procedures toward reducing replication of scholarship application processes.

“The work that we try to do here is to add value that would reverse those thousand little things that worked against [the student],” said La Sierra University President Christon Arthur, noting the numerous odds confronting first-generation and underprivileged college students. “Every student we see we ask, ‘what is God imagining for that student? And how do I make God’s imagination become a reality?’ So, we look forward to this partnership because we know we’re doing God’s work.”

“Every student we see we ask, ‘what is God imagining for that student?" -- Christon Arthur, La Sierra University President

“We’re very excited about the opportunity of working with La Sierra University on what has now become our revised mission,” said Brian W.G. Marcotte, the foundation board treasurer and former president of MCU. “What we’re looking for are students with high need, and have very high potential. If we can combine our forces, we can really have a lasting impact on our scholars.”

The Marymount Scholars Program scholarship is renewable for up to four years for incoming freshmen and for up to two years for incoming transfer students if they maintain eligibility through full-time enrollment and maintenance of a minimum 2.7 GPA. It is aimed in particular at benefitting those who are first in their families to attend college, a demographic that is often lacking a constellation of inputs, insights and resources which are needed to be successful in higher education. To that end, a key function of the two institutions’ partnership will be a close teamwork approach in providing Marymount Scholars with unlimited student support services such as tutoring and academic counseling.

“As a first-generation college student myself it’s tough,” said Ryan Alcantara, a Marymount foundation board trustee. “You’re not always knowing where to go or to ask questions. Our mission at Marymount is to provide that mentoring and that support to polish the heck out of the scholars we are fortunate enough to engage with.

“We want that experience to be transformative. We know they’ll be successful at a small, faith-based institution and we know that La Sierra is one of those where that experience is going to be great,” Alcantara said.