How can you make an impact?
Financial Aid
The goal of becoming more affordable is shared by America’s best colleges, and is viewed as essential to making Lafayette stronger in decades to come. In connection with this effort, providing opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds enriches the education for all and enhances the national reputation of the College.
With additional support for financial aid, Lafayette will be better able to compete with aspirant peer institutions for the best students, offer a transformational education to students whom we could not otherwise enroll, and enrich the entire community by crafting a student body that is more diverse on a wide range of factors, including socio-economic status.
There are many ways in which you can support financial aid. Gifts options include:
- Named endowed scholarships
- Named annual scholarships
- Athletic scholarships, and more.
To learn more, contact Advancement at (610) 330-5037 or via email at advancement@lafayette.edu.
Student Support
Being a student-ready college requires a commitment to evolving services to meet the needs of current and future generations. Students are arriving on-campus with higher needs in terms of mental and physical health. Beyond academic support, the College is aiming to increase support for health and wellness and emergency funds to assist students in need, which prevents a derailment of their progress toward achieving a Lafayette degree.
One such example is the James F. and Donna L. Krivoski Student Assistance Fund, which is available for students who experience a crisis and require financial assistance for basic needs such as food, clothing, or a plane ticket to visit a sick relative.
To learn more, contact Development and College Relations at (610) 330-5037 or via email at development@lafayette.edu.
Athletics
Lafayette’s Division I athletics program has far-reaching implications for students, faculty, and the community. It strengthens enrollment, heightens Lafayette’s profile and enhances brand recognition. Athletics is an incubator for leadership, which provides an opportunity for students to excel on many levels during their collegiate experience.
In 2018, Director of Athletics, Sherryta Freeman, launched a five-year athletics strategic plan titled Creating a Championship Culture. This plan will position Lafayette athletics as a major competitor among Patriot League peers. The strategic plan’s goals are straight-forward: achieve competitive excellence, strengthen academic excellence, provide the most positive student-athlete experience possible, build more community and spirit for Lafayette athletics, ensure integrity in everything we do and secure the funding necessary for success.
Fundraising plays a major role in the success of the plan. The College is in the process of establishing a fundraising plan that supports athletics annually and secures major gifts for future sustainability. Gift options include:
- Athletic Scholarships
- Coach’s Endowment
- Leadership Training/Oaks Leadership Academy
- Maroon Club/Annual Support
- Program Support
A major component of athletics fundraising will be growing the existing Leopard Champions Fund, a general scholarship fund for student-athletes. While some sports are at their maximum number of scholarships, many are not. Gifts to the Leopard Champions Fund will aid in bridging this gap.
To learn more about the ways in which you can support Lafayette Athletics, contact Advancement at (610) 330-5037 or via email at advancement@lafayette.edu.
The Lafayette Fund
The Lafayette Fund provides annual resources that are critical to the College achieving its mission. Tuition and fees cover only 80 percent of the cost of a Lafayette education. The remaining 20 percent is covered by the endowment and the Lafayette Fund. Support for the Lafayette Fund fills the gap between what the College can provide through its endowment and the full cost of a Lafayette education. Annual support is also a key factor used by many ranking and funding agencies in determining which schools will receive grants and recognition. Gifts to the Lafayette Fund support:
- Financial Aid
- Student/Faculty Research
- Academic Initiatives
- Athletics, and more.
For additional information on how you can support the Lafayette Fund, contact Benjamin Landis at (610) 330-5943 or via email at landisb@lafayette.edu.
Maroon Club
The Maroon Club enhances the student-athlete experience for all of Lafayette’s 23 Division I athletic programs. Gifts through the Maroon Club can be directed to the General Fund and/or to a specific athletic program. A gift to the General Fund supports the following four core elements of Lafayette’s 23 Division I athletic teams:
- Common Support Programs
- Athletic Training Services
- Strength and Conditioning
- Maroon Club Bus
For additional information on how you can enhance Lafayette Athletics through a Maroon Club gift, contact, Andrew Foster, senior associate director of Athletics Facilities Operations at (610) 330-5472 or via email at fostera@lafayette.edu.
Parents Fund
The Parents Fund provides annual resources that directly enhance the student experience. In fact, you can designate your Parents Fund gift to any area at the College. The Parents Fund supports outstanding academic and research opportunities, athletics, on-campus student experiences, career and networking experiences and more.
For additional information on how you can support students through the Parents Fund or to learn more about the Marquis Parents Council, contact Valerie Downing, Associate Vice President for Individual Giving at (610) 330-5835 or via email at downingv@lafayette.edu.
Academic Planning Initiatives
Lafayette cultivates a faculty of leading scholars and researchers who are passionate about teaching. In December 2018, the faculty approved an academic plan that identifies six key areas of emphasis that will build on Lafayette’s ethos of integration across disciplines. The six areas respond to significant global concerns, capitalize on current strengths and investments, and help advance Lafayette’s distinctiveness and attraction for the most promising and committed scholars and students.
The areas of focus include:
- Data Science and Digital Scholarship
- Design, Media, and the Arts
- Environment and Sustainability
- Global Education
- Inclusive STEM Education
- Humanities Center
Fundraising initiatives connected to the above areas of focus range from the addition of courses with embedded travel that are available to all students, study abroad opportunities, and much more.
To learn more, contact Advancement at (610) 330-5037 or via email at advancement@lafayette.edu.
Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability
Also an area of focus among the College’s academic planning initiatives, Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability is a top priority at Lafayette. The College’s newly adopted Climate Action Plan is helping to promote more than Lafayette’s commitment to becoming carbon neutral; it will highlight other distinctions of work in environment and sustainability studies. Fundraising efforts connected to environmental stewardship and sustainability are focused on scaling up LaFarm, the College’s 3-acre organic garden, the addition of summer learning experiences, as well as adding solar arrays on campus, and more.
Support Sustainability initiativeS
To learn more, contact Advancement at (610) 330-5037 or via email at advancement@lafayette.edu.
Career Opportunities
The Gateway Career Center prepares students for success post graduation through educating, advising, and connecting students to opportunities for summer and interim career experiences. Through the combination of experienced Gateway counselors and innovative programming, paired with passionate alumni and parent volunteers who support the Center, students are “career ready” once they graduate. Not all students can afford to take low paying or unfunded internships that will help to advance their careers. Fundraising priorities include support for:
- Internship stipends
- Investments in the Career Tracks program and externships
- Career training and technology
- Volunteer hosts for internships, externships, and career experiences
In addition, you can support alumni and current students through mentorship and career networking via Gatewaylink.
Support the Gateway Career Center
To learn more, contact Advancement at (610) 330-5037 or via email at advancement@lafayette.edu.
