Shady Side Academy granted $5.2M to create scholarship fund
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A $5.2 million donation to Shady Side Academy will create a scholarship fund that annually pays for seven students to attend the Fox Chapel-based Middle School and Senior School campuses.
It is the second-largest gift in the Academy’s 136-year history, officials announced Wednesday.
The donation was made in honor of late SSA Middle School headmaster David Mancosh and his wife, Rose Marie, by a group of anonymous donors.
“David was a strong leader who was completely devoted to the pursuit of developing the young minds and character of his students,” SSA board of trustees Chair Jonathan Kamin said.
He attended the Middle School while Mancosh was headmaster.
Kamin recalled Mancosh’s wife as a kind woman who helped students in their daily tasks, from selecting the right library book to helping them navigate life.
“Together, they were pillars of the community who worked tirelessly to instill meaningful values in the lives of Shady Side students,” Kamin said.
Mancosh joined SSA as a seventh-grade teacher in 1953 and became headmaster of the Middle School in 1966, retiring 20 years later.
The Mancosh Reading Room in Rowe Hall on the Senior School campus is named in his honor.
Interim academy President Amy Nixon said the sizable donation will help lessen financial strain for many families and it signifies that donors believe in Shady Side’s mission.
“We are thrilled that seven students per year in perpetuity will be the beneficiaries of an SSA education,” Nixon said.
Money will be combined with more than $220,000 in an existing Mancosh endowment to create the new fund, with recipients called Mancosh Scholars.
The fund will pay student tuition throughout their education from grades six to 12.
In the 2019-20 school year, there will be four Mancosh Scholarships awarded to one student each in grades six to nine.
In following years, a new scholar entering sixth grade will be selected, increasing the number of Mancosh Scholars each year until there is a total of seven.
To qualify, students’ financial aid need must be at least 80% of tuition costs.
The scholarship will cover 80-85% of tuition, with the Academy covering the balance, along with at least $2,500 a year to cover costs such as books, meals and activity fees.
Typically, about 30% of the 1,028 students at SSA receive financial assistance, including need-based financial aid, merit-based scholarships and grants and tuition remission for children of employees.
This year, the academy gave more than $3.7 million in need-based financial aid to 190 students.