Dear donors, students and alumni, 

I am writing today to push the college to do the maximum good regarding their promise to meet “full need” of their students via the Upward Together financial campaign. 

I was attracted to attending Whitman because of the focus on community and bettering society and strongly believe in our personal responsibilities to making the world a better and fairer place. I would like to commend Whitman for increasing the percentage of students receiving Pell grants (federal grant aid for low-income students) from nine percent while I was attending to nearly 25 percent in the incoming year; that’s amazing work. Let’s do more! 

I believe Whitman should be affordable for all academically qualified students. The webpage for the financial campaign states that only $18 million is needed to meet the full need of their students. While “Access and Affordability” is listed first on the campaign’s website, only nine percent of the $200 million being raised would be used to meet students’ full need.

 Furthermore, I have found that meeting full financial need can mean many things. At a minimum, it means that students’ financial aid packages will equal that of the cost of attending college (tuition, housing and extra expenses). These packages can still contain public, private and “parent plus” loans. The nation’s top colleges meet the full need of students with no loans. 

If it only takes $18 million to meet the “full need” of students while still requiring loans, we could surely leverage Whitman’s sizable endowment and the wealth of its alumni for the maximum good so that the most qualified students can attend Whitman, regardless of cost. If the campaign were for $300 million would that be possible? I’m sure us alumni could support that noble goal.