Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard announced to Student Government Wednesday evening that the athletics department will be donating $1 million to the Financial Aid Office to go toward degree completion grants.

The contribution to the grants, which go toward students having financial difficulty completing their degrees, was first announced at Faculty Senate on Tuesday.

Pollard said that he was first approached by Student Government President Cody West last spring with West looking for opportunities for athletics to better help students.

While ideas such as discounted concessions were floated around, Pollard said he wanted to think just a bit bigger. After talking with Financial Aid Director Roberta Johnson, Pollard said her office could benefit from having more funding to help students stay in school.

“There’s a lot of hardship,” Pollard said. “There’s hardship where a student… is in a tough spot and can’t pay for school.”

Providing a brief summary of the athletics department budget, Pollard said that the announcement will be officially announced Thursday, but he wanted to let Student Government know beforehand.

Following his announcement, Student Government applauded the donation and some senators thanked Pollard for his department’s donation.

Pollard joked that he hoped the majority of the clapping was for West, as he had originally approached Pollard with an idea to benefit students.

“I’ll buy him a soda or a hot dog when he comes back for football next year,” Pollard said.

West also shared the news in his executive update Wednesday evening.

“One million dollars for the students of Iowa State University,” West said in his email report. “It is days like today that make our time in Student Government worth it.”