Ford Scholars

In 1964, Northeastern University was granted $150,000 by the Ford Foundation's Fund for the Advancement of Education to establish a program to provide scholarships to African American youths who would not otherwise have the opportunity to obtain a college education. The program's goal was to increase business and professional career opportunities for African American youth.

The program specified the enrollment of 25 African American students from the Boston area in each of the next three years. Northeastern President Asa S. Knowles stated, "We are convinced that the Co-operative Plan of Education, with its alternating periods of study and on-the-job training, offers a particularly meaningful solution to the problems faced by young Negroes as well as by employers seeking to hire Negroes" (The Northeastern University Alumnus, vol. 27, No. 1 (Winter 1964), p. 2.).