It's not uncommon for a capital campaign or annual fund drive to focus on scholarships or need-based grants. Here's how financial aid officers can help advancement staff make their fundraising case-and avoid pitfalls in establishing endowed scholarship programs.
1. Share the Numbers-and Their Impact.
An excellent place to start is factually demonstrating the need for funds. An aid officer should provide data to show:
Evidence of the growing gap between tuition charges and the typical enrollee's ability to pay.
At most institutions of higher education today, the expected family contributions calculated for aid applicants have not kept pace with rising costs. Consequently, both the level of need and the percent of students applying for need-based aid have usually increased over time. In addition, the purchasing power of federal and state grant programs have declined, and the debt levels of graduating students have increased. At some IHEs, enrollments of students in certain income ranges have fallen off, affecting socioeconomic diversity. Demonstrating these trends through easy-to-read charts can help clarify for potential donors that a growing number of students can't attend the school without assistance.
Getting $1,000 more in targeted scholarships can impact the composition of an incoming class.
Trends in yield rates among high-ability students, or students with other desirable characteristics.
This data can help demonstrate the "willingness to pay" of students most at a premium in an institution's applicant pool. Contrasting the yields on those receiving scholarships with those not funded can help donors see the impact of financial aid on enrollment behavior. Students strong in academics or with other attractive characteristics will have the most other options to consider. Show donors the difference their contributions can make to your institution's ability to enroll desirable students.
It is also often the case that students who don't apply for financial aid have much lower yields than those who do. While this may, in part, be a reflection that students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds typically have more college options to consider, these results also include needy students who have either lost interest in the institution, or who have decided the institution is not affordable.
Being able to make financial guarantees to students based on publicized criteria (e.g., merit scholarships based on academic records, or need-based aid guarantees for those with incomes below a certain level) can help keep those students interested long enough to put together a full financial aid award for their family's consideration.
The most sophisticated IHEs go beyond simply sharing yield data to building predictive models that demonstrate how an additional $1,000 in scholarship or grant funding targeted to sub-populations can impact the composition of the class.
Examples of the scholarship programs and financial aid discount rates being funded by key competitors.
Get a donor's competitive juices flowing by providing evidence of offers being made by institutions competing for your applicants. Institutional websites and the Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool/index.asp) are good sources of this information.
The success of previous winners of funded scholarships and grants.
Donors like to know that the students receiving funding are excelling. Report on the success of previous recipients of endowed scholarships using measures such as average GPA, retention rates, campus involvement, etc. Although more difficult to gather, being able to show the impact that receiving institutional financial aid has on alumni giving can also send a powerful message to potential donors.
2. Match Programs to potential Donors' values.
Some institutions have been more successful at approaching donors about funding paid internships, study abroad programs, or other experiential learning opportunities, rather than pure scholarship programs. Other donors may be interested in funding on-campus employment opportunities. Probably the best-known program of this kind is the Cornell Tradition. It started in 1982 and continues today under an umbrella program called the Cornell Commitment. Jim Scannell's book, Shaping the College Experience Outside the Classroom (Boydell & Brewer, 1996), covers this and similar programs.
