Not that many years ago only private colleges built endowment funds. Now, with the higher costs of education and the shrinking support from state governments, even public universities need to ask for donations. One of the latest is Cleveland State University. State Impact Ohio’s Mark Urycki reports.
If you’d like to endow a department chair at Cleveland State it’ll cost you one million dollars. Getting a school named after you is at least five million. And a new building will be 25% of its construction costs. That’s pretty much the standard way of doing business at state universities these days. They have very much become public/private partnerships.
CSU is only the most recent Ohio school to launch a multi-million dollar fundraising campaign. Much of their $100m goal will go to scholarships, both merit-based and need-based. CSU Vice President Berinthia LeVine says 60% of their students are the first in their families to attend college. And sometimes just a $1000 dollar grant to a struggling junior or senior is enough to keep them in school.
“ ‘You know I’ve gotten my loans, I’ve gotten my grants, I’ve gotten my scholarships. I’m still lacking a thousand- two thousand dollars. I can’t enroll.’ So Radiance Scholarships help provide that gap and we’ve helped over a thousand students stay in school.”
Cleveland State officially kicked off its public campaign earlier this month but they have already raised two thirds of their $100 million dollar goal in a silent campaign.