Summer 2010

Pritzker Family Pledges $10 Million to Maintain Access for Needy Students BY MONIQUE JOHNSON

The Pritzker family of Chicago, founders of the hotel group, has pledged $10 million to help Chicago-area students who attend Stanford. The university will use the gift to create a scholarship fund dedicated to supporting students from the Chicago region who come to the university with considerable financial need.

The gift is timely. As families struggle with the impact of the recession, the need for financial aid has grown. Nearly half of Stanford undergraduates now depend on scholarships from the university, up from 40 percent prior to the recession. And while the university’s financial aid budget has doubled in the last five years, endowment losses have sharply reduced available resources. In fact, the university currently faces a significant shortfall between scholarship endowment funding and student need.

The Pritzker Scholars Fund will help close that gap by providing an infusion of support to cover a portion of the financial aid typically awarded to needy students from Chicago. The gift represents a key commitment to the university’s redoubled scholarship fundraising efforts. The Stanford Challenge goal for endowed scholarships now sits at $300 million—three times the target at the outset of the campaign.

“Our family believes firmly in the transformative value of higher education,” says , JD/MBA ’84, a Chicago business executive. “Scholarships are a powerful way to level the playing field for promising students with financial need. It’s our way of giving back to the community by inspiring Chicago students to reach their highest potential.”

Currently, one-third of the 90-plus undergraduate students from the Chicago region who receive need-based aid from Stanford are from families earning less than $60,000 a year—qualifying them for full support under the university’s financial aid program.

Beginning in the fall of 2010, the Pritzker Scholars Fund will help underwrite financial aid for these students and succeeding generations. It will be one of the university’s largest endowed scholarship funds, supporting a grow- ing cohort of talented recipients.

“Part of the reason the family chose to partner with Stanford is its deep commitment to need-blind admission and efforts to ensure that top-quality higher education is accessible and affordable to all capable students,” Pucker, ’84, adds.

Stanford’s financial aid program is one of the most robust in higher education. Students from families earning less than $100,000 a year and with assets typical for their income level attend tuition-free. Parents making less than $60,000 are not expected to pay tuition or contribute to the costs of room, board, and other educational expenses. Aid packages do not require students to take out loans, though students are still expected to help finance their education by contributing from earnings or savings, or from outside scholarships, if available.

“We are extremely grateful for the Pritzker family’s leadership and generosity,” says university President John Hennessy. “Stanford is committed to keeping its doors open for students from all walks of life, and this gift helps us reinforce that pledge—especially in this economy. The real effect of their investment, however, will be felt beyond Stanford and the students from the Chicago area who will benefit, as generations of Pritzker Scholars go on to become leaders in their communities and in the world.” n

Arelys Villeda, ’10, is one of more than 90 Chicago-area students who received need-based aid from Stanford this year. Raised only by her mom, a housekeeper, she has studied in Chile and Spain, conducted research in sociology, and graduated in June with a dream of someday leading her hometown public school system. In years to come, students like Villeda will benefit from the Pritzker family scholarship gift.

PHOTO: Steve Gladfelter and Eric Koziol

© 2010 Stanford University. All Rights Reserved. Stanford Benefactor is a publication of the Office of Development n Contact: [email protected]

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