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LeBron James and his foundation will pay for over 1000 kids to go to college

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R

Randolph Freelander

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http://www.sbnation.com/2015/8/13/9151441/lebron-james-foundation-scholarships-akron-cavaliers

On Thursday LeBron James announced his foundation will pair up with the University of Akron and will fully sponsor more than 1,000 scholarships for children currently in his I Promise program based in Akron, Ohio.

That's pretty awesome!

The LeBron James Family Foundation has been giving a helping hand to children from the third to the seventh grade. James is now extending support for the kids one step further by saying he will cover their tuition costs if they meet the requirements. A year's tuition alone at the University of Akron is around $9,500.

"I think it's probably one of the best things I've ever been apart of, this is very special to me. As a kid growing up in the inner city and as an African American kid, you don't really think past high school because it's not possible or your family can't support you. For us to be able to do something like this ... it means so much."
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This is indeed pretty awesome. Good on you to give back, LeBron.


Updated

RBelong2Us said:
Joe Vardon @joevardon
A point of clarification for some reports I've seen about LeBron's scholarship program. U of Akron will pay for it, NOT LeBron or foundation
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How was this spinned that this was LeBron paying out his pocket?
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I take back everything and declare Gonzalez the winner of this thread.

But here is more information on the way this works:

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2015/08/lebron_james_university_of_akr.html

On Thursday, James announced a partnership between his foundation, the university, and JPMorgan Chase in which any child under James' mentorship who graduates from Akron Public Schools and meets yet-to-be-determined testing, attendance, and community-service criteria would receive receive a free ride to the University of Akron.

The scholarships, paid for by the university, will cover tuition and Akron's general services fee -- currently worth about $9,500 a year.

...

Also, for at least the next five years, James will star in annual commercial campaigns marketing the university.

"No one liked having to reset their finances the way we've had to," Scarborough told the Northeast Ohio Media Group. "It's very nice to be able to redirect attention from that to something as positive as this new partnership with LeBron James Family Foundation. LeBron's a hometown hero, he represents excellence, we're proud to have him associated with university.

"What LeBron's doing is going to have a large impact on these kids' lives," Scarborough said. "It's an easy decision for us, to take this opportunity to work with a hometown hero."

The Akron commercials featuring James will begin airing soon, Scarborough said.

With six years before the first scholarship goes out, Scarborough said the university may try to raise money to pay for the scholarships instead of using Akron's $60 million general scholarship fund.
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And as for Chase Bank's involvement

Additionally, Akron's education professors will monitor the James' foundation students to make sure they are on track to graduate and meet the extra requirements to qualify for the scholarships.

The data those professors will track will be collected through a program created by JPMorgan Chase. In Chase's part of the agreement, the banking giant with some 22,000 employees in Ohio -- including 5,500 technologists – will devise a system to collect and measure the various criteria students need to meet to qualify for the scholarships.

Like the University of Akron, Chase has long partnered with James and his foundation on other endeavors. The bank recently published a James biography on its website that highlights Chase's partnership with James' foundation.

The bank pledged 4,000 man hours for the project.

"We're enablers here," said James Geuther, regional president for Chase. "We're going to place the specific, objective data in the hands of the people who can really help change these kids' lives."
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C

CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls

Banned
scotts-tots-11.jpg
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Another LBJ>MJ bullet point.

MJ's legacy will be kids killing each other for overpriced and ugly, slave assembled sneakers.
 
F

Fury451

Banned
Gonzalez said:
It is a PR stunt, and a tax write-off.
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This attitude is pretty toxic. He's been pretty low-key publicity-wise about his involvement in charity, but it's been consistent, especially here in Akron.

Sure there are benefits from this for him, but I hardly think that's the main motivator.
 
T

TwntyOneTwlv

Member
It's great and all, but Akron U seems to be heading towards bankruptcy. Hopefully it's still around when these kids graduate high school... :/
 
T

Trey

Member
rrc1594 said:
Never get the LBJ hate he is actually a pretty good role model
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Backlash because he's so venerated by his supporters and was christened before he even came in the league. People just love to hate, it's part of the meta. by all accounts LeBron is a good dude. certainly the most successful modern athlete.

Just think how scrutinized the man is - probably only the president has it worse. And he's had no real fuck ups his entire career. He's gonna retire top 10 all time and with hundreds of millions in the bank at a minimum. At this point I don't think it's possible to hate on him in any way that's going to affect him personally.
 
BadAss2961

BadAss2961

Member
Trey said:
Backlash because he's so venerated by his supporters and was christened before he even came in the league. People just love to hate, it's part of the meta. by all accounts LeBron is a good dude. certainly the most successful modern athlete.

Just think how scrutinized the man is - probably only the president has it worse. And he's had no real fuck ups his entire career. He's gonna retire top 10 all time and with hundreds of millions in the bank at a minimum. At this point I don't think it's possible to hate on him in any way that's going to affect him personally.
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Maybe off the court. He's definitely had his share of basketball related fuckery.
 
Alcibiades

Alcibiades

Member
Love the gesture but it is painful to know that this could have been 2000 or 3000 kids if tuition hadn't undergone massive inflation after colleges hiked their rates due to all the student loans going around.
 
W

WascallyWabbit

Member
Who cares if it's a PR stunt and/or tax writeoff? This means 1000 under-privileged kids get to go to colleges that were previously outside their families means

If it goes through, it's a hell of a thing for Lebron to have done, regardless of his motives
 
G

Gonzalez

Banned
WascallyWabbit said:
Who cares if it's a PR stunt and/or tax writeoff? This means 1000 under-privileged kids get to go to colleges that were previously outside their families means

If it goes through, it's a hell of a thing for Lebron to have done, regardless of his motives
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I care to know his true motives. Also, he's setting these kids up for future failure when they have to put down University of Akron as the school they graduated from on their application. I give them five months till they start posting in the "Finding a Job Is Really Hard" thread on Neogaf.
 
S

SliceSabre

Banned
Jordan could put more kids through college if he wanted to.

Keep coming up short there Lebron. Still a nice thing to do though.
 
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