FAQs

What’s an Endowed Scholarship?

An endowed scholarship is a gift that keeps on giving. With your contribution of $25,000 or more (spread over as many as five years), you can establish a fund that is invested each year with Ithaca College's investment pool.

Each year, the College will calculate the total earnings of the endowed fund and make available an amount (based on a five-year rolling average market value of the fund) to be awarded as scholarships; this amount has averaged 4.5 percent in the past. The remaining earnings will then be added to the fund principal, ensuring that your scholarship continues growing over time, producing scholarship aid in perpetuity.

Awards are first made after the minimum endowment level of $25,000 has been reached.

Under the current investment strategy, a $25,000 endowed scholarship produces annual scholarship aid of approximately $1,100, which can be a tremendous help for students with financial need.

Are There Other Types of Scholarships?

An annual scholarship may be established with a contribution of $2,000 a year for five years. Scholarship aid will be awarded each year that the scholarship is funded.

How Are the Award Criteria Chosen?

The College's development staff and the Office of Student Financial Services will work with you to develop eligibility criteria in broad terms, primarily to ensure that scholarship funds will be awardable each year.

Will I Know Who Receives My Scholarship?

The students who receive your scholarship will be asked to write to you, unless you state otherwise. You'll also be sent information about each of the award winners annually, along with a status report on the value of your scholarship fund.