McGill University receives new $200 million scholarship donation

Besides having the day off of school today, McGill University received another spectacular gift.

In what the school is calling the “single-largest gift to a Canadian university,” McGill has received $200 million to put towards a new scholarship program for graduate students.

The couple behind the extraordinary gift are John and Marcy McCall MacBain, the founders of the McCall MacBain Foundation.

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The new fund will pay for tuition, fees and living expenses for 75 students per year. With 50 Canadian students and 25 International students per year being eligible for the scholarship and the fund will focus primarily on those who excel in leadership and citizenship versus academic marks.

In a live announcement this morning, Suzanne Fortier, the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University released the news:

“McGill is on the verge of its 200th anniversary and as we look towards our future entering our third century in a world of increased complexity, we want to give our students the opportunities they need to shape the world and be leaders in their own communities.

What we are announcing today is a extraordinary gesture of philanthropy and a powerful expression of confidence in the new and next generation of students who choose McGill as their education.

It is with great joy, pride ad a great deal of emotion that I announce on behalf of McGill University, a $200 million gift from John and Marcy McCall MacBain and the McCall MacBain foundation to  to create the McCall MacBain scholarships at McGill University.”

Applications from Canadian student will open in the fall of 2020, with the first scholarship-bound students beginning at McGill in the fall of 2021. International students will be included as of 2024.

Fortier summed up the announcement by adding, “how do you build a great university? At McGill, we say, one student at a time.”