Two University of Wisconsin at Madison alumni are donating $175-million to create a fund to help financially needy Wisconsin students attend college, reports the Associated Press.

The gift is being made by John Morgridge, a former chairman of Cisco Systems, which supplies computer-networking products, and his wife, Tashia. Both graduated from the university more than 50 years ago.

The program, known as the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars, will provide about 2,000 grants of $1,000 to $5,000 each for the 2008-9 academic year, and more than 3,000 grants annually after that. The beneficiaries will be low-income graduates of public high schools in the state.

The idea behind the fund is to complement the Wisconsin Covenant program, which guarantees a spot in one of the state’s universities or technical colleges to all eighth graders who sign a pledge and earn a B average in high school, take college-preparatory courses, perform community service, and stay out of trouble. —Dan Carnevale