We can all agree that the cost of higher education is not only steadily rising but actually climbing faster than inflation. While an education is priceless, it is also very expensive. President Matthew Scogin imagines a Hope College where students Pay It Forward and the scholarship endowment can fully fund each student’s tuition for all four years on campus. To get this model up and running will require more than $1 billion dollars in endowed scholarship funds. Doing so will shift our tuition model from a pay-as-you-go structure to a Pay It Forward model. How would it work? The concept is simple: Students invest after, not before, they receive their Hope education.
- Students come to Hope with their tuition fully-funded.
- Students pledge to give a small percentage of their income back to Hope after graduation.
- Students Pay It Forward to help future Hope College students enjoy the same experience.
Strategic Advantages to the Pay It Forward Model
There are many strategic advantages to changing the tuition model for Hope College. Listed below are the top five.
- It will change our relationship with students from being transactional to one based on generosity and gratitude.
- It would give Hope College national recognition as one of the few private liberal arts colleges in the U.S. with a different tuition model.
- It’s a chance to impact the world by giving Hope the ability to recruit the most talented students from across the nation and globe, regardless of their financial capability, exposing them to a vibrant Christian community and rigorous academics.
- It is an opportunity to show leadership in public discourse. While the whole world is trying to figure out why higher education is so expensive, Hope can lead the way in changing the status quo.
- It will make Hope College financially sustainable for the indefinite future.
If you share in the excitement of this vision and want to learn more about it and how we can help you make a strategic gift in the current tax environment, then please let us know!