This week, Elon launches the largest fundraising campaign in its history, focusing on the priority of building the university’s endowment. Today, E-Net details plans to expand scholarship opportunities for students.
Elon seeks to grow its endowment to underwrite scholarships for students from all backgrounds, allowing them to take full advantage of an Elon education through study, leadership and service on campus and abroad.
Need-based scholarships will ensure access to able students of all backgrounds.
Talent-based scholarships will attract students of diverse talents and abilities.
Endowment gifts for scholarships are critically important. They will provide the resources needed to compete for the range and variety of students that make up the Elon community. Elon must increase its institutional capacity to provide financial aid to first-generation college students and to law students, many of whom are training for careers in public service.
Elon also must increase the number of scholarships available for the 16 sports that it sponsors for both men and women, making the university more competitive with its peers in NCAA Division I. All of the funds raised for athletics through the Phoenix Club during this campaign will go toward student-athlete scholarships.
One of the seminal events in Elon’s rise in reputation was the creation of the Kenan Scholarships, which have brought some of the finest students to this community and given an identity and a home to the Honors Program at Elon. In 2008-09, the first recipients of the “Susan” Scholarships were named; long-time university benefactor Furman Moseley ’56 created the awards in honor of his wife, Susan, with a $5 million gift — the largest gift in Elon’s history. More than three-dozen new scholarships have been created by generous supporters during the leadership phase of the Ever Elon Campaign.