"Good insight Trent." by Brian Kaldenberg

"Actually .edu links aren't inherently anymore important or authoritative in the eyes of Google or other search engines. A new .edu isn't any better than a .com or whatever. The reason most people think they are is because typically a college, university or other true .edu institution will have a well established authority site, so a link from them is great. Basically what I am trying to say is just because it's a .edu doesn't necessarily mean it's a better link, but it very well could be.

Anyway, now that I got that out of the way, I wanted to say that I think your idea for getting them is brilliant. Definitely not something I have ever heard of doing before and I can see how it would work well. Although the average person doesn't have extra money sitting around to give out for scholarships. But if you do it sounds like a great idea to me.

Be careful though and make sure you mix in links from other sources. Having all .edu links will raise a red flag for your site in the search engines." by Trent B