Chapman University students are getting a helping hand from the Simon Family Foundation.
Ron Simon, chairman of Newport Beach’s RSI Equity Partners, and his wife, Sandi, recently pledged $9 million to provide 10 full-tuition scholarships every year for five years to students in the Physician Assistant program at Chapman’s Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences.
“The medical field is deeply in need of more physicians’ assistants, and students who graduate with this degree will have a job in excess of $100,000 a year,” Ron Simon told the Business Journal last month, following the funding news.
Crean College Dean Janeen Hill noted “a dire need for healthcare” and said it costs much less to educate PAs than MDs.
Simon Graduates
The giving marks the Simon Family Foundation’s expansion into graduate education, something it has been considering for some time, according to Benjamin Drutman, chief operating officer of the foundation and Ron’s grandson.
Simon Family Foundation previously focused on underserved high school and undergraduate students.
“Ron and Sandi Simon personify what it means to influence change and transform lives,” said Chapman President Daniele Struppa. “They focus on helping young students who don’t typically think about college.”
He said “results speak for themselves”:
n 98% of Simon Scholars are first-generation students
n 96% are accepted to a four-year college
The scholarships have helped more than a thousand students, Struppa said. “We are honored by the opportunity.”
Simon made his fortune in cabinetmaking and homebuilding, under the RSI Holdings umbrella. He sold both those lines of business over the past few years.
