Local News in Brief : La Jolla
A $1.077-million gift from the estate of a La Jolla woman to the UC San Diego School of Medicine will be used to provide scholarships for needy medical students, the school announced Friday.
The estate of Helen H. Hillyer provided the endowment, said Dr. Charles Spooner, associate dean of admissions. The amount represents the largest gift ever received by the school for financial aid, he said.
Spooner said that the Helen Hurlbut Hillyer Scholarship Fund will generate income to be used for scholarships. Spooner said there is an enormous need for such funds in light of decreasing federal assistance for students and the increasing costs of medical education. Spooner said graduates in the 1986 UCSD School of Medicine class were saddled with an average of $32,500 in individual education debt.
Hillyer, a longtime resident of La Jolla, died in August, 1975. The gift is a deferred endowment, having been held in a trust for a stepdaughter until her death earlier this year, a school spokeswoman said.
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