Pamela Warmack has pursued her education with starts and stops for more years than many of her UC Davis classmates are old. Her 25-year journey has wound through five colleges and universities, with breaks for marriage, volunteer work and raising four children along the way.

Against many challenges — financial responsibilities, caring for a family, work or returning to civilian life after military service — the 49-year-old Warmack and hundreds of others have resumed their education at UC Davis a little older and a little wiser.

And with a recent $1 million gift to endow scholarships for students like her, the Bernard Osher Foundation is providing financial help and moral support along the way.

Beginning in 2009-10, the endowment is expected to provide 10 of these older or "reentry" students with a $5,000 scholarship that may be renewed for a second year. The more permanent funding comes with a gift of $50,000 for 2008-09 and follows gifts of $50,000 in each of the last two years to create the Osher Reentry Scholarship Program at UC Davis.

Warmack, a religious studies major from Fremont, received a $5,000 Osher Reentry Scholarship for the 2007-08 academic year. "I was so excited," she said. "I went around going, 'Oh, my gosh! I got a scholarship.'"

The Osher scholarships are awarded to undergraduates aged 25 to 50 who have a cumulative absence of five years or more from their education, are working on their first baccalaureate degree and have a grade point average of 3.25 or better. A campus committee of reentry professionals selects the Osher scholars.

Mary Bitterman, president of the Osher Foundation, said the San Francisco-based organization, which supports higher education and the arts, has a long-standing commitment to help students looking to complete their education. "The more we engaged in scholarship support, the more all of us recognized the special needs of older students," she said.

Each year, UC Davis enrolls about 400 new reentry students — 25 years or older and veterans — at the undergraduate level.

Shirley Sperry, coordinator of Reentry Student Services for UC Davis, said these nontraditional students face many challenges, from a loss of income to balancing family and job responsibilities with their studies. "The money is huge," she said. "These are all independent students who have more responsibilities than the typical undergraduate."

Warmack, who holds an Associate in Arts degree from Butte College, is resuming her education even now as her family is in the midst of her children's college years. While Warmack was excited about receiving the scholarship, her spouse, Carl, had some additional gratitude: "My husband is very thankful financially."

Warmack also knows firsthand how much moral support comes along with the scholarship. In the fall, she became ill and was hospitalized. She had to take incomplete grades in three courses and took a lighter course load in the winter quarter.

"The Osher scholarship played a big part in me hanging in there," she said.

Last year, the Osher Foundation gave the campus $1 million to endow the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Davis.