Grace Corr can begin university without spending a year working to raise funds. Credit:Louise Kennerley The Terminus Hotel in Pyrmont sold for $5 million in April, and the Griffiths Tea building in Surry Hills for $22 million in 2014. A large warehouse and vacant lot at 100 Harris Street, Pyrmont, near the casino sold earlier for more than $90 million. But it was not until they made a $10.8 million donation in 2015 to the University of Sydney's nursing school, followed by $35 million to the same institution for a new healthcare precinct earlier this year, that it became clear what the Wakils intended to do with the profits of their property deals. It is less well known that the couple, who made their money in the clothing trade and have no children, have since 2015 funded scholarships for disadvantaged students in the public school system to support them through vocational or tertiary education. In a rare public statement, Mr Wakil told Fairfax Media why.

Sydney multimillionaires Isaac and Susan Wakil. "I have always felt that education and trades are essential tools for young people to give them a good start in life, and that there is need to help the underprivileged youth of hardworking families and those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds," Mr Wakil said. "We are fortunate the Public Education Foundation is managing the scholarships, and I am pleased that their selection is directed, in preference to merit, to those most disadvantaged. " Ms Corr's $9000 scholarship over three years might be tiny compared to the Wakils' university bequest, but she said it had made the difference between her starting her degree next year and having to take a year off to work. "I found out [on Monday]," she said. "I cried! Throughout high school I normally had two or three jobs at the one time, and I'd just spoken to one of my Aboriginal co-ordinators at school about deferring for a year and working because I didn't have the funds to go to uni. So it means that I can actually go to uni now. It was a massive relief."

Ms Corr, who is among seven recipients of a Wakil scholarship this year, has already gained acceptance into her course of choice at Macquarie University, a bachelor of business leadership and commerce, and wants to work boosting Indigenous employment. David Hetherington from the Public Education Foundation said the Wakils' decision to target assistance to individuals "is remarkably effective and generous in that it really does change the trajectory of the lives of the recipients with their scholarship". The PEF will distribute more than $500,000 of its several donors' funds this year to students who demonstrate both academic achievement and need, Mr Hetherington said. Loading It has been a good year for philanthropy in public education, once typically the purview of private schools.

The architect of the Gonski reforms, David Gonski, announced a $5 million initiative in October to direct corporate money to needy public schools through Schools Plus, which allows tax-free private donations to public schools for the first time.