As a late-blooming teenager growing up in Canton, Ohio, CJ McCollum was not a blue-chip basketball prospect, but landed a Division I athletic scholarship at small-school Lehigh (Pa.) University. Looking back more than a decade later, the New Orleans guard understands how fortunate he was to not require a significant loan to attend college, as was the case for his wife.
“For myself to go to college, I had to have a scholarship to go,” McCollum said Monday after Pelicans practice.
That’s also the case for many youngsters in New Orleans. With that in mind, the 11-year NBA veteran launched his brand-new McCollum Scholars program Monday, in partnership with local non-profit College Beyond. The initiative will invest a total of $1 million into New Orleans students, with 10 kids receiving $100,000 apiece. McCollum will help to select the specific recipients based on a series of criteria, such as grade-point average. All students will be Pell Grant-eligible and must reside in Orleans Parish.
Photos: CJ McCollum announces McCollum Scholars scholarship program
1 / 30NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 22, 2024: CJ McCollum of the New Orleans Pelicans announces McCollum Scholars Program and 1 million dollar donation to College Beyond in New Orleans, Louisiana. Copyright 2023 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images)
“We’re excited about the impactful work we’re going to be able to do,” he said. “What we’re really most excited about is the kids, being able to change the trajectory of some of these kids’ lives, some of these families’ lives, make the college experience easy.”
During his ESPN podcast last week, McCollum noted that he hopes to help New Orleans students make their college decision based on what they want to do, instead of what they need to do, the latter a result of financial constraints.
“(This is) understanding that there are many people out there – my wife included – who go through the loan process and the application process, and they can be difficult,” McCollum said. “It’s important to figure out ways for kids to dream big. The biggest focus is to provide unique opportunities that they wouldn’t be able to experience, and try to make it unique to the market. That’s what we’ve done in New Orleans.”
The father of two young children, McCollum has emphasized education in his talks with Crescent City students, as well as his various initiatives that benefited area youngsters. In 2022, he created a program to work with local journalism students, similar to a project he previously founded during his tenure with the Portland Trail Blazers.
“It’s important to my family to contribute and understanding some of the needs here,” McCollum said “As a kid who had to get a scholarship to basically go to college, I understand how hard it is on a lot of these families. As a priority, education is something we care about in my household.”