For recent grad Heather Beck '09, the generosity and financial support of the CMC community made her college experience possible. "Where I grew up, nobody goes to a college like CMC unless you have money. And I didn't have it," Beck shares.
For Beck and many other students at CMC, financial aid was the deciding factor when choosing colleges. "I couldn't afford full tuition. Other schools offered me admission, but CMC gave me a real chance. I wouldn't I couldn't have come here without it."
Sustaining the College's ability to have an impact on students like Beck requires the generosity of students, parents, alumni, and friends of the College. Though financial support for the College is important year-round, gifts received before the fiscal year deadline of June 30 are particularly important. The impact of contributions goes beyond a fund-raising goal, however; more than financial aid, gifts to CMC help support all aspects of programming at Claremont McKenna College, from academics to events at the Athenaeum to athletics.
Thanks to an impressive outpouring of support from CMC's Class of '09 May graduates, more than $15,000 was raised in donations and matching grants during the Senior Class Gift campaign. But annual-giving organizers still hope to increase donations and giving participation by June 30.
"In the field of higher education, alumni support is often seen as a barometer of a college's strength," notes Greg Gallagher, Assistant Director of Annual Giving. "And that's with good reason. Alumni donations have a transformative effect on the lives of current students, and that's truer at CMC than almost anywhere."
Gallagher says generosity is part of the College's foundation: "CMC became a great college because parents and, later, their alumni children, supported it financially."
"Now more than ever," Gallagher says, "that support sustains CMC as one of the best liberal-arts colleges in the country."
Gifts to the College can be made online: http://www.cmc.edu/giving/.
Emily T. Meinhardt '10