Washington University’s Board of Trustees has authorized a fundraising initiative designed to increase support for student scholarships.
“Opening Doors to the Future: The Scholarship Initiative for Washington University,” has a goal of raising $150 million to support scholarships and fellowships. A formal kickoff for the initiative will take place on November 7, and the effort will continue through June 30, 2014.
In establishing the scholarship initiative, the Board noted that Washington University must continue to recruit a diverse student body with the highest abilities, demonstrated accomplishments, and exemplary character, while making every effort to meet each student’s financial need.
“Washington University students are among the most talented young men and women in the world,” said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. “They come from many different ethnic, geographic, economic, and social backgrounds, and they bring with them the diverse life experiences that contribute to making the educational experience on this campus so rich and meaningful. Our scholarship initiative will help to ensure that no deserving student ever has to turn down the opportunity for a Washington University education because he or she doesn’t have the resources to afford it.”
“Scholarships transform lives—not only for students, but for society,” said Robert L. Virgil, executive chair of the scholarship initiative. Virgil is a trustee of the university, former dean of its John M. Olin School of Business, and retired partner in the St. Louis-based investment firm of Edward Jones. “Washington University is a place where outstanding students prepare to become leaders in medicine, law, government, scientific research, education, public policy, business, and the arts. Many deserving students just need an opportunity to turn their extraordinary potential into achievement. Their future is our future—and a scholarship is an investment that benefits us all for years to come.”
“Opening Doors to the Future” will help create more scholarships for both undergraduate and graduate students. The initiative will encourage contributions of both endowed and expendable scholarship funds. In addition, it will promote support for stipends and financial aid for students pursuing internships, summer research opportunities, and study-abroad programs.
Today, more than half of Washington University’s undergraduate students receive some kind of financial assistance, which may include grants, loans, and work-study. Almost 22 percent of those students qualified for assistance totaling more than the cost of tuition. Graduate and professional students also receive substantial financial aid, including, for example: 82 percent of law students, 89 percent of medical students, and 92 percent of social work students.
Last year, undergraduate students were awarded approximately $66 million in financial assistance. Income from the university’s endowment provided only 17.6 percent of that amount, and the rest came from expendable gifts and other university resources.
More than 1,300 endowed scholarship and fellowship funds have already been established, but many more are needed to enable the university to continue to recruit talented students from a wide range of backgrounds.
A significant aspect of the scholarship initiative is a $2 million challenge grant, intended to encourage new and increased annual scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students from alumni, parents and friends. It was established by John F. McDonnell, former chairman and now vice chairman of the Board of Trustees of the university and retired chairman of the board of McDonnell Douglas Corporation.
“Washington University students all share extraordinary potential to make a difference in the world, and I am happy to support their efforts,” said McDonnell. “Among them are the men and women who will go on to become leaders in society, who will found and manage organizations, find cures for diseases, fill important government posts in this country and abroad, author the next Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, design the next architectural monument. What a loss it would be, and how sad it would be that we, who could have helped, didn’t.”
The McDonnell Challenge encourages donors to establish new annual scholarships or to increase their current annual scholarship gifts. A minimum gift of $5,000 will establish a named annual scholarship. Gifts of more than $5,000 can provide support to students who may have needs which range from $5,000 up to full tuition, room and board, and other expenses; these gifts can also support multiple students. To qualify for the match, a gift must meet certain criteria which are available from the Office of Alumni and Development Programs. The challenge will continue until June 30, 2014, or until all of the matching funds have been expended.
Wrighton is optimistic that Washington University’s supporters will rise to the McDonnell Challenge and recognize the value of investing in students and their future contributions to society.
“As William Greenleaf Eliot said more than 150 years ago, our university is ‘a great work, capable of indefinite extension.’ Indeed, we will always continue to advance and build on our extraordinary record of excellence in teaching, research and service to society, and we will continue to attract the best students. However, these commitments come with a heavy price,” Wrighton continued. “We must turn to our generous and supportive friends and alumni, who recognize that an investment in Washington University is an investment in the future.”