More than $250,000 has been donated to the University of Wisconsin as part of an ongoing fundraising effort for need-based scholarships through a partnership between UW Credit Union and the UW Foundation.

The project began earlier this month. For every dollar that UW Credit Union members donate to the university, UW Credit Union will match with another dollar, and then the UW Foundation will match two more dollars, according to Ccredit Uunion spokesperson Lisa Girdharry.

Girdharry added UW Credit Union is hoping to reach $1 million.

“We are very excited to see the generosity of our members,” Girdharry said. “It has been great to see our community being a part of it.”

Russ Howes, vice president of legal affairs for the UW Foundation, said the group will match up to $20 million, and ideally the project has the potential of contributing $40 million in need-based scholarships.

While the project has been able to meet a quarter of UW Credit Union’s goal, Howes said the economic crisis has played a role in the effort.

“It has started out a little slower than we expected,” Howes said. “We’re on our way though;, as the economy strengthens up, we expect to be on our feet.”

According to Girdharry, UW Credit Union joined the effort as part of their affiliation with the UW campuses they serve.

“We want to continually help students have the ability to attend college. We want students who are able to attend UW-Madison based on merit to have the funding that is available for them,” she said.

Howes said the results of the campaign thus far have been promising.

“This has been in the works for eight or nine months,” Howes said. “In this particular project, the campus asked us to get involved with need-based scholarships.”

The fundraising effort aims to support meritorious undergraduates whothat need financial aid in order to attend the UW school of their choice.

Michelle Curtis, UW associate director of financial aid, said that the university wants to provide access to all students they admit, no matter what their financial backgrounds.

“In order to have students succeed, one of the elements is they have to be able to graduate, and they need funding to do that,” Curtis said.

Curtis added the fundraising effort hopes to provide students with the educational experience of their choice.

“We want the students that we admit to have that Wisconsin Experience and graduate on time,” she said. “We want to make sure they have the access to the education that they’ve been admitted to.”

According to Curtis, UW wants the effort to raise as much money as it possibly can and to diminish the unmet need that undergraduate students face.

“It’s an overall picture of student success,” Curtis said. “Quality students get admitted, and we want to fund those students no matter what their socioeconomic status.”