Univeristy reaches Chicago Initiative goals

The University of Chicago has surpassed its $2 billion fundraising benchmark--totaling $2,380,373,507 in grants, donations, and pledges from alumni and University affiliates. In an e-mail memo to the University community this morning, President Robert Zimmer announced that the Chicago Initiative garnered triple the funding raised during the University's last fundraising initiative, which was completed in 1996.

"Annual fundraising totals have increased sharply in recent years, reaching $376 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30. In the final two months of the campaign we received six donations between $5 million and $25 million, along with thousands of other generous gifts," Zimmer wrote.

Chicago Initiative funding endowed 105 new professorships, 207 graduate fellowships, and 177 undergraduate scholarships since the Initiative's inception nine years ago. Last summer, the University received a gift of $100 million from an anonymous donor--the largest in the history of the University. The gift will endow the Odyssey Scholarship program, effective this fall, which replaces student loans with grant money for students from low-income families.

The Odyssey program comes at a time when colleges and universities nationwide are choosing to revamp undergraduate aid packages in order to attract competitive applicants from wider demographic pools. Read more about past Maroon coverage on national and Illinois aid trends here.

The University of Chicago Magazine, published by the University's News Office, has a feature piece about the Chicago Initiative and University fundraising efforts in the current issue of the magazine. Read it here.