A former Australian National University student who says he's "benefited enormously" from the institution will donate a record $100 million to help others follow in his footsteps.

Businessman Graham Tuckwell and his wife Louise's contribution today doubles their initial 2013 donation of $50 million and is the largest philanthropic personal donation to any university in Australia.

The university said the money would go towards building two new university residences over the next two years that would each house 400 students.

Mr Tuckwell, who made his money from the stock market, graduated from the ANU in the late 1970s with an economics degree.

He is the founder of ETF Securities Limited and invented the concept of exchange trade commodities when he launched Gold Billion Securities in Australia in 2003.

The new residential halls will be heavily inspired by his experiences living at Bruce Hall.

"Louise and I benefited enormously from our educational experiences," he said.

"We would like to help and encourage others to gain from a total university experience and to use it to benefit Australia.

"We now want to give more students a chance to take part in the Tuckwell Scholarship Program and to live in Australia's premier student accommodation."

Money raised put back into scholarships

Revenue from the residences will help expand the Tuckwell Scholarship Program which has been in operation since 2013.

The university said the residences would provide around $200 million in revenue for the next 30 years and would fund the Tuckwell Scholarship Program in perpetuity.

The program, established in 2013, currently helps nearly 70 students who have shown academic merit and a commitment to giving back to the community.

Each student receives more than $21,000 a year for up to five years of full-time study.

Tuckwell Scholarship recipients Sarah Campbell and Nishanth Pathy. ( ABC News: Alkira Reinfrank )

Sarah Campbell studies chemistry at the ANU and has been involved in the scholarship program for three years.

"The financial security provided by the Tuckwell Scholarship has enabled me to put all the effort I have ever wanted to into my academic career," she said.

"Because of that I have now been offered a lot of opportunities through doing so well at university."

ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt said the Tuckwell's contribution would give hundreds of young Australians the opportunity to access education at the university.

"The building of two new halls of residence will not only benefit the scholarship program but will provide much-needed additional on-campus accommodation," Professor Schmidt said.

"This is an exciting new way in which philanthropists and donors can make a huge positive contribution to tertiary education in this country."

The university also announced $10 million would be spent on a new Scholars House building for the scholarship recipients, which would be the "pastoral, academic and social heart" of the program.

Philanthropic donations could be the way of the future

At a time when job cuts and financial constraints loom over the ANU, the donation has come as a welcome boost to the university.

Mr Tuckwell said in the current economic climate more philanthropist should "invest in education".

"The future as far as philanthropy, I believe, is in doing high-end programs that are not natural for the government to do," he said

"Often governments work for those who are disadvantaged etcetera, we have just not got that capacity."

Professor Schmidt echoed his sentiment, saying philanthropic donations would play a "part of the future" of the university.

"Governments are scared to take risks, so through philanthropy we can do really new bold exciting audacious things, like the Tuckwell program," he said.

"And from that we can get change to occur as people realise 'oh this is actually a better way to do things'."