Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company donates $5 million to help Florida students

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.– Step Up For Students announced April 28 a $5 million contribution to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program fromUniversal Property & Casualty Insurance Company (UPCIC), helping more than 655 Florida schoolchildren attend the K-12 school that best fits their learning needs.

Since 2017, UPCIC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. has generously funded more than 2,620 scholarships through contributions totaling $18.5 million to Step Up For Students, a nonprofit organization that helps manage the income-based Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. The program is funded by corporations with tax-credited donations and allows parents and students to choose between a scholarship to support private school tuition and fees, or one that assists with transportation costs to a different public school.

“Universal is committed to giving back to our community,” said Steve Donaghy, Chief Executive Officer of Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (UIH). “We are proud to support hundreds of schoolchildren through our partnership with Step Up For Students.”

UPCIC celebrated this incredible donation at Parkridge Christian Academy in Coral Springs, where nearly 30% of the students use a scholarship through Step Up For Students. Dan Marino, UPCIC spokesperson, National Football League hall of famer and former Miami Dolphins quarterback, made a special appearance and met with students benefitting from the scholarship.

“We are honored to have UPCIC as a partner in our mission to help Florida families access schools that best fit their children’s learning needs,” said Doug Tuthill, Step Up For Students president. “Through their support of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program, which is producing measurable results, companies like UPCIC are helping to transform the lives of deserving schoolchildren in our community.”

In February 2019, the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, released results of a study on the effectiveness of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, the nation’s largest private K-12

scholarship program. The study found that students on scholarship for four or more years were up to 99% more likely to attend a four-year college than their peers in public school, and up to 45% more likely to earn bachelor’s degrees.

Since 2002, Step Up For Students has awarded more than 1 million Florida Tax Credit Scholarships.