Florida Southern College Celebrates First Endowed Scholarship In Finance

Ashley A. Bailey and Nolen B. Bailey, native Floridians and graduates from Florida Southern College’s Business and Education programs respectively, have generously established the Ashley A. Bailey, M.Ed. ’16 & Nolen B. Bailey ’07 / CPS Investment Advisors Endowed Scholarship. The donation establishes the first endowed scholarship for Florida Southern College’s new finance major.

“Giving back to future students and helping students with their financial aid is a true honor and privilege. We hope that our contribution will make a positive impact on the lives of future finance majors at Florida Southern,” said Nolen and Ashley Bailey. “Florida Southern plays an integral part in bringing superior students to our city, and this has transformed our community.”

Nolen Bailey graduated from FSC with an undergraduate degree in financial management and a minor in economics in 2007. Nolen has built a successful career with CPS Investment Advisors here in Lakeland. In 2020, he became a partner and joint-owner of CPS Investment Advisors, and he currently serves as Vice President of the firm. Ashley Bailey graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in elementary education in 2008, and she later went on to graduate from Florida Southern College in 2016 with her master’s degree in education. She has worked in education for the last fourteen years and has a passion for helping her students reach their goals.

Nolen and Ashley are excited to empower future leaders in finance as they support and further FSC’s active role as an asset to the surrounding community. Ashley and Nolen’s personal trajectory has convinced them that an education in finance at a school like FSC can have a profound and transformative impact on a student’s life and career. The new endowed scholarship will enable students majoring in finance at FSC, regardless of their financial situation, to take part in the program’s experiential education driven by engaging research and internship opportunities.

“I am so grateful that Nolen and Ashley have honored the Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise with their donation and establishment of the Ashley A. Bailey, M.Ed. ’16 & Nolen B. Bailey ’07 / CPS Investment Advisors Endowed Scholarship,” said Dr. Michael Weber, dean of the Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise at FSC. “I am elated to see the new finance major offered to FSC students with a concerted focus on industry-relevant courses and hands-on experiences through course projects and internships. I am confident that the Baileys’ investment in our finance majors will pay rich dividends for Florida Southern College and for our community.”

The new finance major is housed within FSC’s Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise. The Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise was recently named #1 in “Teaching Quality” by Poets&Quants and continues to be included in The Princeton Review’s list of the nation’s “Best Business Schools.” Furthermore, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise’s online MBA program among the best in the nation, and Fortune magazine named FSC among the best business programs for an online MBA in the state of Florida (no. 2), the South (no. 26), and the Nation (no. 63). This year Colleges of Distinction recognized Florida Southern’s Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise as a premier business program in the state of Florida and the nation. Florida Southern was recognized because of the Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise’s focus on career-relevant courses with a broad set of multidisciplinary perspectives and student opportunities for real-world experience through industry internships and other forms of professional engagement.