The University of Phoenix and comedian Tom Arnold have teamed to establish the First Chance Scholarship Program.

The university will award 100 full-tuition scholarships to the children of working parents who can’t afford to send their kids to college and to parents wishing to further their own education.

The program was announced at Monday night’s Arizona Cardinals game at University of Phoenix Stadium, where the institution has purchased naming rights. The scholarships will be distributed nationwide. Each scholarship will average about $20,000.

“It’s very appropriate for us to help. We’re the largest university, and it’s our obligation to give back,” said Brian Mueller, president of Apollo Group Inc., the University of Phoenix’s parent company.

The scholarships are in memory of Ryan Francis, a University of Southern California basketball player who was shot and killed in May while visiting his mother in Baton Rouge, La.

Arnold, who was filming a movie in Baton Rouge at the time, heard what happened to Francis and contacted his brother, who works for the University of Phoenix, about starting a scholarship program.

“Here’s a guy who dreamed of providing for his mother and then this tragedy happens,” Arnold said.

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