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WalMart has donated thousands of dollars to a Montana scholarship program. Governor Brian Schweitzer accepted the money Wednesday morning at an event on the Montana State University-Billings campus.

The company is funding two-year scholarships, worth $2,000 each, to each of Montana's 15 colleges.

The Best and Brightest Green Energy Scholarships will be given to Montana students interested in studying fields that will advance jobs in the "green energy" sector.

"This is a great partnership between the state of Montana and Wal-Mart," Governor Schweitzer says. "Wal-Mart recognizes how many jobs are being created in Montana right now in the new clean and green energy business. And so they're investing $30,000 in scholarships for students to study the new energy economy, wind power, bio fuels, transmission systems."

Dr. Sexton says the scholarship money will greatly help Montana students.

"It really does make a difference," Sexton says. "It's a lot of money, doesn't sound like it's a huge amount, but across time, because my understanding is that this may well become an ongoing commitment and once that begins to happen, I think we'll see a lot of other corporate sponsors wanting to join in and provide Montana students with that opportunity."

Dr. Sexton says MSU-Billings will likely cut the scholarship into two separate awards, so it will benefit more than just one student.