Loyola Marymount University and Deloitte today announced the creation of the Deloitte Tax Diversity Scholarship to help fund the cost of tuition for ethnically and racially diverse students seeking a Master of Science in Taxation degree from LMU College of Business Administration.
Through the Deloitte Tax Diversity Scholarship — in which selected students will see half of their tuition paid for by Deloitte and the remaining half paid for by LMU — Deloitte hopes to ease the financial burden to pursuing a degree in tax, with the aim of opening doors that previously might have remained closed to racially and ethnically diverse students.
“There is tremendous demand in the accounting profession today for tax talent, but in my experience I’ve observed that many Native American, Latinx and Black students are often unaware of the career paths afforded by a degree in accounting or think the barriers are too great,” said Stephen Metoyer, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, Deloitte Tax LLP. “By establishing the Deloitte Tax Diversity Scholarship at LMU, we hope to strengthen the pipeline of racially and ethnically diverse professionals seeking careers in the tax field while also allowing them to network and build relationships with members of the Deloitte community.”
This scholarship is part of the broader Deloitte Tax Scholars initiative through which Deloitte has had tremendous success working with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to increase the number of diverse students who are pursuing a career in tax. Because many HBCUs are located on the East Coast, Deloitte is excited by the opportunity to collaborate with LMU to offer similar scholarship support in the west region.
“National hiring and promotion data demonstrates a lack of diversity in the accounting profession, and the numbers are particularly striking for Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino/Latina communities,” said Lawrence Kalbers, LMU College of Business Administration associate dean of faculty and academic programs and R. Chad Dreier Chair in Accounting Ethics. “The goal of integrating LMU’s new master’s program with the Deloitte scholarship is to increase access, improve skills and knowledge, and enhance career opportunities for participants. LMU’s location in the culturally and ethnically diverse city of Los Angeles, and its proximity to Hispanic-serving institutions in L.A. and on the West Coast, makes it ideally suited to create a new pathway for underrepresented students interested in the profession.”
Today’s announcement, which follows news of a similarly-purposed scholarship gift at Louisiana Tech University, complements the investments Deloitte has made to date through its Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable (MADE) initiative to address the major barriers faced by racially and ethnically diverse students, grow the population of diverse talent, and create more leadership pathways for the next generation of certified public accountants (CPAs).
Students who are interested in learning more about the program requirements can do so here.
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Tags: Accounting
