Attracting, recruiting and enrolling the world’s most high-achieving scholars, regardless of socioeconomic background, has been a hallmark value since the 1870s when Syracuse University became one of the first private colleges to admit women. Inclusion is engrained in our history, our values and our culture. Syracuse University is steadfast in its commitment to ensuring that the door of opportunity for each generation’s underrepresented populations, whose contributions to Syracuse University elevate its academic excellence, remains open. Invest Syracuse: Advancing Academic Excellence and the Student Experience is about upholding that tradition while expanding opportunities for exceptional students who might not otherwise attend a top university.

To continue building on that legacy while also reinforcing our position as a great, thriving, international research institution, Syracuse University will renew our commitment to opportunity by ensuring access to significant financial assistance. Currently, about 65 percent of our students receive financial aid, many of these students are among the top in their graduating classes. As the cost of higher education increases, cost savings efforts must be paired with targeted fundraising to generate the resources necessary to expand access and affordability.

That’s why Syracuse is launching a dedicated fundraising initiative focused exclusively on increasing financial assistance to undergraduate students. The Invest Syracuse Initiative aims to raise $40 million dollars by 2020. It will:

• Raise $40 million in endowment and current use gifts dedicated to financial aid available to be directed to financial assistance by June 30, 2019.
• Double the amount raised annually to the Fund for Syracuse in two years.
• Increase need-based grant awards and reduce loans in financial aid packages to decrease student debt after graduation.
• Ensure that Syracuse University’s financial assistance packages are competitive with other premier universities to attract and support the enrollment of the best, brightest and most high-achieving students.
• Significantly reduce the number of students who choose another institution over Syracuse because of cost.
• Increase the financial aid endowment via gifts from alumni, parents and other Syracuse friends and supporters.

Your support, and the support of others, makes it possible for high-achieving students, regardless of economic background, to attend Syracuse University. Your support also allows our students to participate in transformative research, rewarding immersion experiences and exciting academic opportunities. Learn more about how to endow a scholarship or make an immediate impact by giving now.