The Student Imperative: Progress continued this summer on the financial prong of The Student Imperative, President Chodosh’s initiative centered on three general areas, or “prongs,” of the student experience at CMC: academic value, personal/social responsibility, and affordability. Among the summer highlights was the establishment of a new scholarship program for first-generation Americans made possible by Jean-Pierre L. Conte and the Conte First Generation American Fund (CFGA).
A business leader and policy entrepreneur, Conte established the fund to provide assistance to current or college-bound students who are immigrants or the children of immigrant families. This fall, five students are the program’s first Conte Scholars at CMC. CMC now joins a select group of institutions that have been awarded scholarships from the CFGA.
According to CMC’s Development Office, the College has raised more than $40 million in long-term commitments to the Imperative, which will boost scholarship and financial aid resources for recruiting the best students, regardless of their socioeconomic circumstances. (Last December, the College’s Board of Trustees committed to an Imperative goal of raising at least $100 million.)
This summer, with the closing of the fiscal year on June 30, the College also recorded its third largest fundraising total in the history of CMC.
Planned Giving: For the first time, according to the Development Office, the College’s Planned Giving efforts also resulted in more life income gifts (cash in for gift annuities and charitable trusts) than any of our peers. Based on results from nearly 100% of the schools in the Middlebury Group (which includes Amherst, Bowdoin, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Middlebury, Oberlin, Pomona, and Vassar), CMC is #1 in life income gifts. The College also ranked 5th in the PG Pacific (which includes the PAC 12) for life income gifts.