Mr. Warren Fray its 1993 student grant worth $4,500.

Mr. Fray has been a recipient of the award in the past. But it was increased this year by $3,000.

The Warwick resident is in his third year of a five-year architecture course at New York's prestigious Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

The grant is awarded on an annual basis to a deserving Bermudian student enrolled in an accredited architecture course overseas, an IBA spokesperson said.

Mr. Fray told The Royal Gazette's Community section recently that he had been struggling to acquire enough funds to continue his studies at Pratt, where tuition is $13,000 a year -- excluding room, board and books.

Mr. Fray is one of five children. His father, a construction worker, was currently helping him as well as two of his siblings with college fees.

Although he has been awarded a $5,000-a-year Government education grant plus the IBA grant, he said his repeated attempts to secure one of the major private scholarships offered in Bermuda had been unsuccessful.