Fact Check: True Story of Iowa Carpenter Who Paid for Dozens of People's College Educations
Claim:
Dale Schroeder of Iowa used his life savings to send 33 students to college.
Rating:
The heartwarming tale of Dale Schroeder, an Iowa carpenter who dedicated his life savings to sending 33 students to college, surfaced in 2019 when local news outlet KCCI in Des Moines, Iowa, and CBS News published his story.
Since then, the true claim Schroeder sent dozens of students to college following his death resurfaced on social media. In November 2019, his story popped up on Reddit, nearly 15 years after his death, and in October 2023, a viral post about Schroeder's generosity from the popular Instagram account @pubity amassed nearly 575,000 likes, as of this writing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CyuZCZkrVDs/
Schroeder's profound generosity became evident only after his passing. The carpenter, who worked for Moehl Millwork in Des Moines for 67 years, led a humble life. He grew up in a poor household, never married, had no children, and lived a modest life until he died in 2005. According to several reports, when Schroeder passed, he left behind two pairs of jeans — one for work and a pair for church — and an old Chevrolet truck.
He had also secretly amassed "just shy of" $3 million in savings.
Snopes reached out to several people, including those who knew Schroeder personally while he was alive, but they did not immediately return a request for comment. In 2019, Steve Nielsen, Schroeder's attorney and friend, told KCCI: "He was very quiet. Dale was shy," adding, "he was that kind of a blue-collar, lunch-pail kind of guy, went to work every day, worked really hard, was frugal — like a lot of Iowans."
Several years before Schroeder's death, Nielsen recalled the conversation he had with his client about what to do with his life savings upon his passing: "He said, 'I never got the opportunity to go to college, and so I'd like to help kids go to college'."
With no direct living descendants, Schroeder's request led to the establishment of the nonprofit Dale Schroeder Memorial Scholarship, which funded college educations for 33 strangers over 14 years, from 2005 to 2019. According to the application guidelines:
The Dale Schroeder Memorial Scholarship was established to provide scholarships to students who are legal residents of the State of Iowa, live in an Iowa community with a population between 1 and 10,000, and will attend one of the following universities: University of Iowa, Iowa State University or University of Northern Iowa.
Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of academic achievement, leadership, school activities, community/volunteer activities, financial and employment history. Awards are granted without regard to race, creed, color, religion, gender, or national origin. Recipients are identified by independent reviewers.
In a proverbial doffing of their collective hat, this group of recipients affectionately refer to themselves as "Dale's kids," a mark of respect for the life-changing impact of Schroeder's posthumous benevolence.
Since Schroeder's story became public, several beneficiaries of the Dale Schroeder Memorial Scholarship have spoken publicly, highlighting the significant educational and personal opportunities made possible through the woodworker's generosity.
In 2020, scholarship recipient Tanysha Truax, who holds degrees from the University of Iowa and Vanderbilt University and now works as a licensed therapist, told Iowa Magazine: "I reflect back on how lucky I was to find Dale's scholarship and the wonderful people he trusted with his legacy often," adding, "I know that I wouldn't be where I am now without it and the experiences it afforded me."
Jenna Herr, another scholarship recipient who received her master of business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told the University of Iowa's Tippie Magazine in 2020: "This scholarship gave me the freedom and the security to dream. It gave me the community and guidance I needed to grow, and the confidence and pride to lead."
With the scholarship fund administered by Schroeder's friends, former Iowa State Rep. Walt Tomenga and his wife Judy Tomenga, many of the recipients have extended their gratitude to the people who helped make Schroeder's scholarship fund a reality. Per Tippie Magazine:
Herr grew up in a single parent home after her mother was incarcerated. Then, at 16, she became a single parent herself. "Walt and Judy Tomenga became like a second set of parents to me," she said. "I visited their home, I spent holidays with them, they sent care packages, we talked on the phone and identified strategies and resources to manage academic and parenting stress."
"I grew up in a single-parent household and I had three older sisters so paying for all four of us was never an option," Kira Conrad, another Iowa recipient of Schroeder's college fund, told KCCI in 2019. "For a man that would never meet me, to give me basically a full ride to college, that's incredible. That doesn't happen."
Given the reports from credible sources, such as CBS News and local Iowa news outlets, and personal testimonials from the scholarship recipients, we have rated the claim Schroeder used his life savings to send 33 students to college as "True."
Snopes previously reported on other acts of benevolence, including MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, giving away $16.5 billion to nonprofits, and claims U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders raised money for Vermont charities by selling apparel featuring a photograph of himself from 2021 Inauguration Day.
Sources:
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Hanson, Eric. "This Is Iowa: Iowan Man's Wish Puts 33 Strangers through College." KCCI, 20 Nov. 2023, https://www.kcci.com/article/this-is-iowa-dale-schroeder-des-moines-man-used-secret-fortune-to-send-strangers-to-college/43635639.
How a Frugal Carpenter Transformed Dozens of Students' Lives with Scholarships | University of Iowa. https://magazine.foriowa.org/story.php?ed=true&storyid=1960. Accessed 23 July 2024.
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Calvin, Aaron. "Humble Carpenter Was a Secret Millionaire Who Left Fund for 33 Strangers to Go to College." The Des Moines Register, https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/25/iowa-carpenter-paid-students-college-3-million-dale-schroeder-ames-steve-neilsen-scholarship/1824513001/. Accessed 24 July 2024.
CNN. "Iowa Man Pays for 33 People to Attend College." Https://Www.Kcrg.Com, 18 July 2019, https://www.kcrg.com/content/news/Iowa-man-pays-for-33-people-to-attend-college-512885561.html.
"Dale Schroeder 14 Apr 2005 Page 9 Obituary." The Des Moines Register, 14 Apr. 2005, p. 9. newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-dale-schroeder-1/34060221/.
"'He Wanted to Help Kids That Were like Him': Frugal Carpenter Saved up to Give Full College Scholarships to 33 Strangers." ABC7 Los Angeles, https://abc7.com/college-tuition-free-dale-schroeder-iowa/5403273/. Accessed 24 July 2024.
KCCI. Iowan's Wish Puts 33 Strangers through College. 2019. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w90nHKbQK2c.
"Man Pays for 33 Iowa Students to Go to College." Https://Www.Kktv.Com, 18 July 2019, https://www.kktv.com/content/news/Man-pays-for-33-Iowa-students-to-go-to-college-512907481.html.
Scholarships from a Secret Millionaire | Tippie College of Business - The University of Iowa. https://tippie.uiowa.edu/news/2020/07/scholarships-secret-millionaire. Accessed 24 July 2024.
