DUKE'S FINANCIAL AID INITIATIVE RAISES $308.5 MILLION FOR FINANCIAL AID ENDOWMENT
Duke University's Financial Aid Initiative, a fund-raising effort which began in January 2005 and was publicly launched that December, raised $308,483,325 in new endowment for financial aid, President Richard H. Brodhead announced. The four-year effort passed its overall $300 million goal in November and ended at the close of 2008.
"These uncertain economic times are a reminder of just how important it is for a university to have permanent endowment dedicated to financial aid," Brodhead said. "At a time when university resources are stretched in many directions, so too are the resources of our students and their families. Yet it is our obligation as a great university to ensure that talented students can get the education that will enable them to reach their potential. Financial aid endowment helps us fulfill our core commitment to make a Duke education accessible and affordable."
A total of 4,364 alumni, parents and friends contributed to the initiative, establishing 478 new scholarship and fellowship funds and supporting 330 funds that previously had been established. Of the $308.5 million raised through gifts and pledges, $226 million is dedicated to need-based undergraduate scholarships, $20.6 million to athletic scholarships, and $61.9 million to graduate and professional student support.
"This is a fantastic achievement," said Sally Dalton Robinson and G. Richard Wagoner Jr., co-chairs of the initiative, in a statement. "There are hundreds of students at Duke today who are benefiting from gifts made to Duke's Financial Aid Initiative, and decades from now there will be even more students who are able to attend Duke because of scholarships and fellowships supported and established during these few years. What's more, this initiative helped give university leaders the confidence to enhance undergraduate need-based aid packages for virtually all recipients."
As part of its ongoing commitment to make high-quality undergraduate education more affordable, Duke announced in December 2007 a series of enhancements to its need-based undergraduate financial aid program that took effect in the 2008-09 academic year. These enhancements included eliminating the parental contribution for families with incomes less than $60,000; eliminating loans for families with incomes less than $40,000; reducing loans for students from families with incomes up to $100,000; and capping loans for eligible families with incomes above $100,000.
When announcing the enhancements, Brodhead said the increased investment in financial aid was made possible because of contributions to Duke's Financial Aid Initiative and earnings on the university's endowment.
Read the full press release announcing the successful completion of Duke's Financial Aid Initiative.
Learn More
- Meet some of the students and alumni who have benefited from financial aid at Duke.
- Listen to Financial Aid Director Alison Rabil give an update on the economy and financial aid at Duke.
- Read reflections on the initiative from George McLendon, Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and Dean of Trinity College.
- Learn how the initiative is making a difference for Duke students.
- Listen to Coach K and Reynolds Price talk about the importance of financial aid.
- Read an editorial on Duke's Financial Aid Initiative by Chelsea Allison, editor of the Chronicle.