Education for Everyone

Since 1999, the Foundation Excellence Award (FEA) program has helped remove these financial barriers and given thousands of students from historically underserved groups the opportunity to achieve higher education at Texas A&M. Through this program, companies and foundations can partner with the university to provide outstanding students a chance to achieve their educational dreams and meet the growing need to recruit underrepresented voices in corporations.  

Pledges, Partners and Promises 

The FEA program supports outstanding students from underserved groups who are U.S. residents and who gain admittance to Texas A&M. This includes minorities as well as students from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. As the population of Texas continues to change, the FEA program strives to make Aggieland a place for all to achieve success. Recipients receive a stipend from $2,000 to $2,500 and can be awarded for one year up to four based on academic qualifications, extracurricular activities and financial need. 

Each year, FEAs support approximately 500 Aggies. Although the program has garnered more than $15 million in total gifts and pledges in the last 23 years, there are still many underserved students who are accepted into Texas A&M but do not enroll for financial reasons.

Thanks to their generosity in creating FEAs, individuals and corporations are helping change that. Gifts to establish a one-time, four-year FEA for one student can be paid in full or over the course of four years with annual contributions of $2,500.  

Access to Education and Agriculture 

Through FEAs, organizations like the George and Anne Butler Foundation can advance their values and dedication to education. To honor the late Jim Theeck '65, the Butler Foundation created two FEAs.

Theeck was the general manager of George and Anne Butler’s Mayfair Ranch in Washington and Burleson counties for more than four decades, becoming one of the most recognized cattlemen in Texas. He devoted countless hours mentoring youth in livestock programs, including 4-H and FFA, and had a lifelong commitment to providing agricultural experiences and resources to every student, regardless of their financial situation. 

The scholarships in Theeck’s memory will help students from Washington and Burleson counties, where he worked and resided for most of his life, achieve an education through Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“Jim devoted his life to production agriculture and providing opportunities to youth,” said Allen Grainger, director of the George and Anne Butler Foundation. “Our hope is that these scholarships will assist students who want to pursue a career in the beef cattle industry or any aspect of production agriculture and make an impact like he did.”