Affording Opportunity
Naomi Harris T’10 has a busy course load, but she still makes time for the marching band.
Read more.
Bryan Baker D’09 says financial aid is vital to students who plan to enter a life of service.
Read more.
Andrea Tsai M’09 hopes to enter academic medicine with a specialization in surgery.
Read more.
| The Dollar-for-Dollar Match
More than $39 million is still available to match new gifts to financial aid endowment dollar-for-dollar.
What gifts qualify?
• $100,000+ gifts establishing new, unrestricted financial aid endowments for undergraduates (Most matching money has been claimed for financial aid endowments that support graduate and professional school students and undergraduate athletes.)
• $250,000+ gifts establishing new, restricted financial aid endowments for undergraduates (for example, a scholarship that gives preference to public policy majors or students from a particular geographic area)
• $100,000+ gifts to existing financial aid endowments
The maximum match available for any donor is $1 million. | Recent Gifts • Tom Natelli E'82, P'10 and Karen Natelli P'10 of Potomac, Maryland, recently committed $250,000 to establish two scholarship funds: the Natelli Engineering Scholarship Fund and the Natelli Athletic Scholarship Fund. Their gift is being matched dollar-for-dollar, so both scholarships will have a starting value of $250,000. Tom played for the soccer team at Duke, and now serves as a member of the Financial Aid Initiative Development Committee and the Pratt School Board of Visitors.
• Thomas and Myrtle Jones P'75 of Stamford, Connecticut, have given $100,000 to endow a scholarship in memory of their daughter, Debbie Jones Mordaunt N'75, with her former Duke roommate, Susan T. Miner N'75 of Richmond, Virginia. General Electric Corporation, Mr. Jones' employer, contributed $50,000 in matching funds, and additional matching by the Financial Aid Initiative Challenge brought the total endowment to $300,000.
• Douglas Lowey T'88 and Ellen Lowey of New York, New York, recently committed $300,000 to establish the Douglas and Ellen Lowey Scholarship Fund for Arts & Sciences. Their gift is being matched dollar-for-dollar, so the need-based scholarship will have a starting value of $600,000. Douglas is a member of Duke Financial Partners and will celebrate his 20th reunion this spring.
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It is our pleasure to update you on Duke's Financial Aid Initiative and to let you know about a wonderful set of enhancements that Duke is making to strengthen aid packages for undergraduates. To better support low- and middle-income families, the Board of Trustees has just approved a plan that is expected to increase spending on need-based aid by nearly $7 million per year beginning in 2008-09.
Gifts to the Financial Aid Initiative—and the promise of its continued success—play a major role in Duke's ability to introduce these enhancements. Thanks so much to all of you who have established scholarship endowments already and to those of you who are considering new scholarship gifts now. We still need many more people to join us in this important effort so we can reach our $300 million goal. As you can see, the payoff for Duke students is quite exciting.
| Sally Dalton Robinson W’55 |
G. Richard Wagoner, Jr. T’75 |
| Co-Chairs, Duke’s Financial Aid Initiative |
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Duke Announces Nearly $7 Million in Enhancements
for Need-Based Aid Recipients
Building on the strength of giving to Duke's Financial Aid Initiative, the performance of the university's endowment assets, and the expectation of additional support for financial aid endowment as the Financial Aid Initiative enters its final year, the Board of Trustees approved an investment of nearly $7 million per year in financial aid enhancements.
The increased investment in financial aid will make it possible for students from families with incomes below $40,000 to graduate debt-free and will eliminate parental contributions for families making less than $60,000 a year. In addition, Duke will reduce loan requirements for all students who qualify for need-based aid. The changes take effect in the fall of 2008 and are expected to benefit about 2,500 students. Read more.
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School-by-School Update
Below is an update on commitments received for each component of the overall $300 million goal.
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Goal |
Commitments to Date |
| Undergraduates |
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| Need-Based Aid |
$230 |
$130.0 |
| Athletic Scholarships |
$15 |
$18.0 |
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| Unclaimed Challenge Funds for Undergraduate Need-Based Aid |
|
$37.0 |
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| Graduate and Professional Students |
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| Divinity School |
$10 |
$9.7 |
| Fuqua School of Business |
$4 |
$6.6 |
| Graduate School |
$10 |
$8.3 |
| Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences |
$5 |
$4.9 |
| School of Law |
$10 |
$9.1 |
| School of Medicine |
$12 |
$11.0 |
| School of Nursing |
$4 |
$2.9 |
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| Unclaimed Challenge Funds for Graduate and Professional Student Aid |
|
$2.2 |
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| Total (as of 12/1/07) |
$300 |
$239.7 |
| in millions |
2007 Scholarship and Fellowship Dinner
Each year, Duke holds a special event to recognize and celebrate scholarship and fellowship donors, honorees, and student recipients. This year’s event took place on Friday, October 12. Nearly 300 people attended, including more than 80 financial aid recipients who were able to thank donors in a very personal way for the financial support that they and thousands of other Duke students receive each year.
You can listen to remarks from President Richard Brodhead and from the evening's student speaker, Mimi Kim. left: Kelly Haskett, Bill Haskett B'78, and Gabriel Bullaro B'08
Gabriel is the SusanKelly and William B. Haskett III Scholar at the Fuqua School of Business.
right: Marion Grabarek, Sophie Ebel T'11, Wense Grabarek
Sophie is the Wense and Marion Norris Grabarek Endowed Undergraduate Scholar.
Student Speaker Competition
 l to r: Mimi Kim T’09, Celeste Jackson T'10, Matt Williams T'09, Valerie Tornini T'10,
Jane Chong T'09, and Alfredo Garcia T'08
Last year, for the first time, the student speaker for the annual Scholarship and Fellowship Dinner was selected through a competitive process. Once again, the Student Advisory Council for Duke's Financial Aid Initiative invited 2,000+ sophomore, junior, and senior financial aid recipients to apply to be the student speaker in 2007. Mimi Kim was selected as the speaker for the event. Congratulations also to the other five finalists pictured above.
Excerpts from the finalists' speeches – and the winner's entire speech – are posted on the Scholarship and Fellowship Dinner website.
Bringing Current and Former Scholarship Recipients Together
On Saturday, November 10, the Student Advisory Council for Duke's Financial Aid Initiative hosted a brunch for scholarship recipients. Students were seated with alumni who had benefited from financial aid when they were at Duke. "We asked alumni to tell us about their careers and to talk about how their financial aid impacted their lives," said Eileene Braxton T'08, co-chair of the Student Advisory Council.
"The event was a great opportunity to build ties between students and alumni," added Joycelene Absolu T'08, the other co-chair of the student group. "It was great to be able to get advice from alumni who were in our shoes not so long ago. They said to take advantage of everything Duke has to offer, from extracurricular programming to work-study jobs."
More than 80 students attended the brunch. Thanks to the following alumni who served as table hosts: Dawn Blanchard T'78; Jennifer Copeland T'85, D'88; Howard Kohn T'77; Ted Million T'85, F'92; Joe Payne T'87, B'91; John Payne T'90; Walker Reagan T'74, G'79; Mark Schneider T'84; James Tobin T'89; Mike Woodard T'81; and Stephen Windham T'93.
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