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Student Aid and Enrichment: The Next Generation of Scholarship
The Chicago Initiative will invest in students through support for:
- Undergraduate scholarships
- Graduate fellowships
- Programs that enhance the learning experience
Student Aid
The University has never faltered in its commitment to admit the most promising students, both undergraduates and graduates, regardless of their economic background. Scholarship support is a key component of the University’s dedication to diversity and a requirement of its dedication to impartial inquiry. By admitting students on the sole basis of their scholarly achievement and promise, we renew each year our commitment to an intellectual environment in which ideas are advanced on the sole basis of their power. It is also a environment in which students learn from each other as well as from their teachers, and from which they graduate to lead thoughtful and intellectually rewarding lives.
Almost half of Chicago’s undergraduates receive some form of financial aid. While undergraduate tuition and fees surpass those of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford, Chicago’s student aid endowment is far lower than at these peer institutions. The relatively smaller endowment for financial aid forces the University to cover more student aid costs with annual operating revenues. Additionally, a higher percentage of Chicago’s undergraduates require financial aid than those of our peers. As a result, it costs the University more to provide financial aid to students, and our students, on average, graduate with more debt. Despite these budgetary pressures, the University remains committed to providing access to a Chicago education and seeks the support of alumni and friends to help alleviate the financial burden.
Many of Chicago’s graduate students also depend on fellowship support to complete their studies. Without adequate fellowships, they can incur as much as six times the education debt of undergraduates. To continue its tradition of excellence in graduate education, the University must offer competitive financial support to advanced-degree students. While such support is extremely costly, the outcome is tremendous: graduate fellowships are an investment in promising young scholars whose ideas will shape the future.
Unique Learning Opportunities
In addition to securing financial aid for future generations of students, the Chicago Initiative’s focus on students aims to increase opportunities for them to learn outside their classrooms. Young people in the College are expanding their educational experiences from the classroom to the world through study abroad programs, foreign language training, and internships. Over half of Chicago’s undergraduates now leave the University proficient in a foreign language—more than at many of our peer institutions. And with more than 100 paid summer internship opportunities around the globe and University-administered study-abroad programs in eight countries on four continents, College students have ample opportunity to apply their newly acquired skills. As a result, Chicago’s signature style of undergraduate education fosters global citizens whose love of learning pervades all aspects of their lives.
Closer to home, students across the Quads are passionately involved in theater, dance, music, and the visual arts. The University’s planned Center for Creative and Performing Arts will serve as a dynamic nucleus for arts activities on campus and will give Chicago students and faculty unprecedented opportunities to pursue the arts. Designed to encourage artists working in different media to interact and collaborate, the 182,000 square-foot facility will add creative arts to the critical reflection and interdisciplinary curiosity that have long been signatures of learning at Chicago.
Investing in Students
The Chicago experience is unique and it does not come cheaply. Funding the University’s financial aid commitments requires an additional $100 million in endowed undergraduate aid and $189 million for graduate aid, for a total student aid goal of $289 million. Alumni and friends already have made gifts totaling $197.8 million towards this goal, including 93 new endowed undergraduate scholarships and 155 graduate fellowships. Building on this accomplishment, the University must raise an additional $110 million in student aid in order to bring the Chicago Initiative to a successful close.
The University also seeks resources to enhance Chicago’s overall learning environment. The Center for the Creative and Performing Arts will cost $86 million, with many naming opportunities available. Additionally, the College must strengthen its signature programs by raising $15 million for internships, $15 million for international programs, and $5 million for student life initiatives on campus.
