Colby gets $7M gift to expand financial aid for Maine students

Photo / William Hall Colby College, in Waterville, on Monday said a $7 million gift will establish a fund to support high school graduates from Bangor and Waterville who enroll at the liberal arts school.

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By Renee Cordes

Colby College said Monday that it has received a $7 million gift to expand financial aid for Maine students at the Waterville school.

The donation, from the from the George G. Petrikas Revocable Trust, will establish the George G. Petrikas Financial Aid Fund designed to support high school graduates from Bangor and Waterville who enroll at Colby.

If no student meets either criterion in a given year, the fund may award financial aid to Maine students who are graduates of high schools in Kennebec, Penobscot or Somerset counties. If again no students are eligible, financial aid will be made available to graduates of any Maine high school.

“Increasing access for talented students from Maine, particularly those from our local communities, is extremely important to the College,” said Matt Proto, Colby's vice president and chief institutional advancement officer. “Colby has a long history with and commitment to Waterville, central Maine, and the broader state. This gift allows us to continue to expand opportunities for great students in those areas to benefit from the distinctive elements of a Colby education.”

Petrikas, a 1956 Colby College graduate who died in 2019 at age 85, was the son of Bangor residents George A. and Anthoula (Pepris) Petrikas. He was educated in the local school system and graduated from Bangor High School before earning a bachelor’s degree in history from Colby, where he was on the track team for two years.

Petrikas served in the U.S. Army in the 1950s, and for many years helped run his family’s restaurants: Atlantic Sea Grill in Bangor, and Park’s Diner, a 24-hour restaurant inside a railroad car that was a popular spot for Colby students and Waterville residents.

In Monday's announcement, Colby said the fund will enhance the school's position as a national leader in access and affordability.

Colby, which has an enrollment of 2,200, cited this year’s freshman class — the largest-ever with 667 students — as the latest example of those efforts. The class was selected from a record-setting 15,857 applicants.

In U.S. News & World Report's latest ranking of the country's best national liberal arts colleges, Colby tied for No. 17 with four other schools. Bowdoin College in Brunswick was No. 6, in a tie with the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and Bates College in Lewiston was No. 25.