Contact: Amy Cagle

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Student Ryan M. Pickle of Hamilton is the latest winner of the Mississippi State University Alumni Association’s Tuition Drawing.

Sponsored by the association’s Alumni Delegates student organization, the drawing provides funding for 12 academic credit hours at the land-grant institution—$4,035 or the equivalent of a typical semester’s tuition.

Begun in 2013, the Tuition Drawing program is available each fall and spring semester to a Mississippi resident. Tickets are made available only to parents of those enrolled full time.

Pickle’s name recently was drawn from 330 submitted. A rising senior in agricultural science, he receives the award for the fall 2017 semester.

“The ‘free’ tuition will take a huge burden off of me during the coming semester,” he said. “It also means my parents won’t have to worry about the expense of paying for my schooling in the fall.”

The award has an added benefit for parents Tracy and Grace Pickle, since they also are supporting Ryan’s sister Megan, a senior accounting major. This will be the first time since the siblings entered MSU that their parents will not incur tuition expenses for both.

Jeff Davis, the alumni association’s executive director, said though only four years old, the program has “become a proud tradition for the Alumni Delegates because it serves as a way for them to positively influence the college experience of fellow students.

“Excess funds raised beyond the amount of each tuition award goes to a scholarship endowment, with the goal of eventually helping even more students with tuition expenses,” he added.

Alumni Delegates serve as links between the 139-year-old land-grant institution and its more than 137,000 living graduates. Members assist with organizational programs and activities on behalf of the association such as football tailgate gatherings, class reunions, and the association’s annual awards banquet and leadership conference.

For more information about the MSU Alumni Association’s tuition drawing, contact Libba Andrews, association associate director, at 662-325-3479 or landrews@alumni.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.