‘Chewbacca Mom’ gets full tuition scholarships for entire family from Southeastern University

University's gift is the latest perk the mother has received as her viral video nears 155 million views

She’s made hundreds of millions of people cry with laughter the world over and now, along with her entire family, ‘Chewbacca Mom’ is set to laugh all the way into higher education having landed full scholarships from a Florida university.

Southeastern University presented Candace Payne with full tuition for her entire family, including her husband and two children, having been infected with her larger-than-life personality which made her world-famous after a video she posted onto Facebook.

The university, a self-proclaimed “Christ-centred institution,” presented the Texas mother with the scholarships during a campus visit while she was in Florida on a family holiday this week.

President Dr Kent Ingle said: “Candace has inspired us and others with her joy, and we want her and her family to experience some of that same joy through this gift.”

In her viral video, Payne filmed herself in her car trying on a Chewbacca mask she treated herself to. Her laughter while putting it on - and her reaction of seeing herself on her phone - was so contagious that, when she awoke the following morning, the clip had had 20 million views.

To date, the video has been viewed almost 155 million times, and received close to 3.5 million shares worldwide.

Payne said of the university’s generosity: “This is such an amazing gift for our family, I’m blown away. I mean, my kids’ college is paid for.”

Since the video surfaced, Payne has appeared on late night talk shows across the US, visited the Facebook headquarters in California, and travelled with her family to Disney World.

With free tuition now added to her list of post-video perks, we wonder what she’ll land next. Watch this space.