“Your scholarship has opened a door, many doors. My family faced the financial challenges of life in a less-privileged community, and the experience made me question the feasibility and even the value of a college education. Thanks to you, life is brighter… Together, you and Dickinson will help me grow into a successful person and physician.”
Perhaps no scholarship can make a bigger impact than a scholarship for a student who wouldn’t be able to afford Dickinson without significant financial assistance.
Income inequality and the growing wealth gap pose formidable social and political challenges. According to the Pew Research Center, over the last two decades in the U.S., high-income families saw median wealth increases of 33%, while middle income families saw their net worth shrink by 20%, and lower-income families’ wealth decreased by 45%.
This kind of wealth disparity stifles opportunity, trapping potentially high-achieving students in a cycle of poverty. Your scholarship gift has the power to break this cycle. By establishing a scholarship for high-need students, you open the doors to a bright future for those students, their families, and the world. In this way, your scholarship gift doesn’t just change individual lives. It helps to fight national and global concerns. Your scholarship gift creates equity, opportunity and social progress.
At Dickinson, our highest need scholarship recipients participate in, or are eligible for, the federal Pell Grant program. Although there is no set income cutoff for Pell eligibility, almost 92% of all recipients have an annual family adjusted gross income of $50,000 or less.
On average, Dickinson provides $65,000 in annual support to our Pell-eligible students. This includes support for room, board and tuition, and an assumption of additional expenses such as travel and books.
During the last five years, on average, 16% of Dickinson students have qualified for Pell Grants. Dickinson’s graduation rate for Pell Grant recipients is 87%, more than double the national average of 39%. Based on these results, the Wall Street Journal has cited Dickinson as a top performer in outcomes for Pell Grant recipients.
High-Need Scholarship Giving Opportunities
Below are several opportunities to ensure Dickinson remains accessible to promising students regardless of their financial means. Funding levels identified in the descriptions of the opportunities named below assume that the gift will be invested with Dickinson’s endowment and restricted for the gift purpose, which will be explained and documented in a written agreement. The funding levels reflect the minimum gift required to support each opportunity.
$25,000
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Provide five years of annual scholarship support to a student with demonstrated need through a named Dickinson Fund Scholarship.
$50,000
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Establish an undesignated named endowed scholarship fund for a student with financial need.
$100,000
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Establish a named endowed fund to benefit a high-need scholarship recipient.
$250,000
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Establish a named endowed fund to benefit a high-need scholarship recipient.
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Scholarship is awarded in the year following the donor’s first payment on the gift commitment.
$750,000
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Establish a named endowed fund to benefit a high-need scholarship recipient.
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Covers the average cost of attendance for one semester per academic year.
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Scholarship is awarded in the year following the donor’s first payment on the gift commitment.
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Donor may choose to be recognized at a physical space on campus.
$1,500,000
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Establish a named endowed fund to benefit a high-need scholarship recipient.
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Covers the average cost of attendance for the full academic year.
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Scholarship is awarded in the year following the donor’s first payment on the gift commitment.
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Donor is recognized as a member of the Founders’ Society
Donors may contribute any amount to the college’s scholarship fund endowment or Dickinson Fund annual scholarship fund. Both funds support students with demonstrated financial need.
Taking the Next Steps
If you would like to explore establishing an endowed fund supporting scholarships for high-need students, please call 800-543-3809 or email giving@dickinson.edu.
If you would like to support scholarships through the Dickinson Fund, make your gift online and choose “Scholarships” as the designation, call 800-543-3809 or email giving@dickinson.edu.
