A year ago President Hunter Rawlings announced to Cornell Board of Trustees and University Council members that the university hoped to raise $150 million in endowment for undergraduate scholarships, a sum that an anonymous donor would match with up to an additional $50 million. "We are firmly committed to ensuring that [Cornell's] unique educational experience remains affordable," Rawlings stated at the campaign's start.
With the campaign slated to end Dec. 31, 1999, Rawlings will update its progress this Friday during his State of the University Address at the Trustee/Council Annual Meeting and honor campaign co-chairs Peter Meinig '61 and Ronay Menschel '64 for their leadership. A successful Scholarship Challenge Campaign is expected to make more dollars available for student scholarships, while lessening the current burden on the uni-versity's operating budget for financial aid funding.
It's easy to see why an accessible Cornell education is very much on the minds of today's undergraduates. While current tuition -- $23,700 a year in the endowed colleges -- remains the lowest in the Ivy League, it's still a sizable sum for most students, but especially so for those whose families have few resources. With the additional cost of room, board, books and living expenses, it's clear why some students must work 25 hours a week and more at paying jobs in addition to carring a full course load -- and why most students graduate with considerable loan indebtedness.
Concerned about the societal impact of those developments, senior administrators and alumni leaders encouraged Cornell's Office of Financial Aid to build three innovative programs under the umbrella of the Cornell Commitment: The Cornell Tradition, the Cornell Presidential Research Scholars and the Meinig National Scholars Programs -- the last endowed by Peter and Nancy Meinig and their family. These programs help Cornell attract some of the nation's most outstanding and qualified students by providing scholarship assistance and giving awards that reduce the students' loans. In return the students commit to active community service, undergraduate research and leadership, involvement that often continues long after they graduate.
This past week three Cornell Commitment scholarship recipients discussed their Cornell experience so far and revealed the crucial role that scholarship assistance has played in their lives.
Elizabeth Arguelles '99, from Olympia, Wash., is a former history major in the College of Arts and Sciences and was a Cornell Tradition Fellow who was awarded the Lilyan Affinito Class of '97 Scholarship as well as scholarships from the classes of '96 and '98. As a student Arguelles was an editor and photo night editor for the Cornell Daily Sun and a volunteer for the Women's Resource Center. She now works for the university's Division of Alumni Affairs and Development. She noted: "In the most basic terms, without scholarships I simply would not have been able to attend Cornell. Scholarship assistance not only opened doors for me, it showed me that there were doors to be opened in the first place as well as a whole world of opportunities that I never would have thought to strive for. The experience transformed me, raising my expectations of myself and my life."
Senior Alfredo Rabines, a student from Brick, N.J., in the College of Arts and Sciences' biology and society program, is a Meinig National Scholar at Cornell. He has been an orientation counselor, a volunteer in the "Into the Streets" community action program, a member of Quill and Dagger senior honor society and a teaching assistant for Advanced Human Sexuality and Research. He said: "Need-blind admission [Cornell's policy of accepting qualified applicants regardless of their ability to pay] gives students like me the opportunity to attend an academically elite university like Cornell. My scholarship meant that someone up in the hierarchy of admissions had faith in my ability to succeed in academics, service and leadership. Scholarship assistance has made a huge difference to me. My knowledge of the world before and after I came here can be compared to knowing a single word, then being exposed to the plethora of words found in Webster's dictionary. I feel like a whole new person, enlightened and made wiser every day of my life here."
Senior Melinda Hightower, a student from Detroit, Mich., in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, is another recipient of a Meinig National Scholarship. She is a member of LEAD (Leadership, Education and Development) for minorities in business and a volunteer coordinator for Project Speak Out, a program sponsored by the Cornell Forensics Society that helps Ithaca High School students improve their public speaking skills. She said of her Cornell scholarship assistance: "It helped me convince my parents that Cornell was affordable and gave me the freedom to choose a school solely for its academic quality and reputation, without regard to my financial limitations." She added that since coming here, she's discovered, "Cornell is the type of place where leaders are born, social change becomes reality and intellectual pursuit is part of everyday life."
"Many alumni are taking advantage of the campaign" with its matching funds, "to establish scholarships in memory of their parents or a memorable professor," observed Menschel. "A scholarship is a direct way to help students and the university as well as to honor someone important to you."
As the campaign winds down, Meinig sees the effect of more scholarship dollars as widespread and long-lasting. "Scholarships enable Cornell to enroll the best students, no matter what their family income is. Outstanding students attract and keep outstanding faculty members. It's a win-win situation."
For more information on the Scholarship Challenge Campaign, contact Laurie Robinson, 254-6173, or Jim Mazza, 254-7191, or view this web site: www.alumni.cornell.edu/giving/where/scholarship.
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