School of Business Alumnus
Recipients to Receive Full Tuition
UConn Foundation newsletter Momentum, Fall 2006 issue
Two new undergraduate scholarships will enable deserving students to attend UConn’s School of Business. Alumnus Daniel Toscano ’87 and his wife, Tresa, have established an endowment to fund need-based scholarships in their parents’ names: the Joseph P. and Rose M. Toscano Memorial Scholarship and the Santos and Patricia Mercado Memorial Scholarship.
“This is about promoting education and honoring our parents,” says Toscano.
The scholarships, which will cover tuition and room expenses, will be awarded to incoming freshmen enrolled in the School of Business. In the case of the Mercado scholarship, preference will be given to Hispanic candidates. Both scholarships will be renewable for four years, contingent upon maintaining a high level of academic achievement, ensuring support through graduation.
“Students coming from low socio-economic backgrounds may not be as well prepared as students from suburbs. They don’t necessarily have the grades to compete for the merit scholarships,” says Mohamed Hussein, interim dean of the School of Business. “That [the Toscanos] made this scholarship need-based is important.”
Toscano, who worked his way through college, understands the burden tuition places on low- and middle-income families. Now a managing director and group head at Deutsche Bank Securities, he is pleased to be able to give promising students the same opportunities he had to build a strong foundation for future success. There are students who “have everything going their way except the financial resources,” Toscano explains.
“We want to reach out to students with potential who don’t have the financial means to attend an institution like UConn, and do what we can to help them.”
Hussein notes that students who have to work long hours or take on excessive course loads to complete their degrees faster are at a disadvantage when competing against their peers, both in college and when entering the job market. He emphasizes that scholarships, regardless of the amount, can have a significant effect.
“People who have been through this university, and have gone on to success in part because of the education they received, need to stop, look back and see how they can help,” says Toscano. He continues, “There are many different ways you can help. Financial assistance is the most obvious, but recruiting graduating UConn students, mentoring and getting involved with the School of Business or the UConn Foundation are other examples of high-impact contribution.”
