The Edward Tom Scholarship

In 1998, Gina Kloes ’90 established a scholarship for single parents in my name. Her thoughtful generosity moved me because, like her, I had been a single parent myself for a period in my early life. I fully understood the incredible challenge of raising a child alone, let alone while attending law school.

Since its inception the Edward Tom Scholarship has helped fund several deserving single moms at Berkeley Law. In 2017, Ms. Kloes modified the terms of the scholarship to allow the Admissions Office to use it for any deserving student in the event there are no single parents in the class.  

Over the past 30 years, I came to understand on individual terms just how important scholarships are to our newly admitted students. The Admissions team competes for them each year against the wealthiest law schools in the country. They often lose. It is heartbreaking that top students, many whose first choice was Berkeley, enroll at other schools solely because they could not compete with another scholarship offer.

Given my retirement, it would mean so much to me if the scholarship program, and in particular the Edward Tom Scholarship, is amply supported with ongoing resources for our inspiring students.

Sincerely,

Edward Tom
Dean of Admissions (1987-2017)