PROVIDENCE – Brown University’s “Brown Promise” program, which offers scholarship funds in lieu of packaged loans that the Ivy League institution eliminated four years ago, is now fully endowed and has become permanent.
The university announced on March 23 that the program, much ado to donors, has surpassed its $120 million fundraising goal this past winter, allowing the program to be fully endowed. In the 2018-19 academic year, the program received $30 million in initial donor support to commence the program, Brown said.
Since the program’s implementation, more than 3,500 students have benefited from the Brown Promise program. As a result, the university said, the program has made a major difference for families dealing with financial decisions and worries about loan debt when deciding for their children to go to college.
“Making Brown an affordable choice for extraordinarily talented students from every income level is nothing short of transformational,” Brown President Christina H. Paxson said in a statement. “The thousands of dedicated donors who supported the Brown Promise truly understand the importance of building a generous financial aid program for our students, who will be the next generation of leaders in our community and across the world.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
