Kessler Presidential Scholarship

One of the great universities in the world, the University of Michigan puts you on a path to success.

By providing four years of financial and other support to exceptional students like you, the Kessler Presidential Scholarship helps you stay on that path both at U-M and beyond.

The Kessler Presidential Scholarship provides four years of financial and other support to exceptional University of Michigan students like you—many of whom are among the first in their family to attend college—helping them achieve their dreams at U-M and beyond.

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The Kessler Scholars are a close-knit community. Alongside current Kessler Scholars, Kessler alumni, and professional staff who are committed to your success, you’ll discover how to be your very best, and explore how your U-M degree can empower you to shape the world.

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Every year, the University of Michigan receives almost 60,000 applications for a first-year class of fewer than 7,000. More than 4,000 students—like you—enroll in the U-M’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Of those 4,000, only 35 qualify to join the Kessler Scholars.

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WHO IS BEHIND OUR WORK?

The Kessler Scholarship exists thanks to the generosity of two Michigan alumni and their family.

Fred Wilpon is chairman and chief executive officer of the New York Mets baseball team and a longtime real estate developer in New York City. Thanks to a scholarship, he was able to attend the University of Michigan—the first in his family to do so. As a student he met his wife, Judy Kessler Wilpon, a future LSA alumna.

The Wilpons credit their professional success to their time at Michigan. To ensure other students could attend Michigan, regardless of family income, the Wilpon family made a donation to establish the Irene and Morris B. Kessler Presidential Scholarship Fund in 2007, named in honor of Judy Kessler Wilpon’s parents.

Her father, Dr. Morris Kessler, emigrated to the United States from Romania when he was 12 years old. Although he did not speak a word of English when he arrived in the United States, Morris Kessler graduated from Northwestern University at age 19 and went on to earn a degree in dentistry.