 |
Alumni
|
Alumni Tuition Free Program
In 2006, Robert and Lillian Brent donated $1 million cash gift to support an innovative medical student scholarship endowment fund that incorporates self-perpetuation with an integrated multiplier effect. The basic idea is that income from the endowment would not be initially spent on scholarship aid, but would create every year in perpetuity a scholarship for the incoming class's name. This class scholarship would continue to grow with the help of the endowment and by personal contributions from class members over time.
The Brent's vision is that accumulated amounts contained in each class gift fund would support a full scholarship for a student and as successive classes reach this goal, tuition for the medical school would be completely endowed.
The vision will be supported by other important elements. First, the school will seek to increase the initial corpus of the Alumni Tuition Free Program from $1 million to $3 million with Dr. Brent serving the role as volunteer, communicating this message to Alumni and friends of the School of Medicine and Dentistry. We seek 200 alumni and friends to each contribute $10,000 to the Alumni Tuition Free Program which will provide an additional $2 million.
It is our hope and that of the Brents, that the successive classes who receive their "class scholarship" (which when the fund reaches $3 million will be $165,000) will use it as an impetus toward the vision of a tuition free medical school. As Dr. Brent has often said, "giving back; it is an obligation that follows the Hippocratic Oath which holds that we are all brothers and sisters and are obligated to help one another."
The vision is attainable. Let's assume that the $3 million core endowment will be reached by year 3. Given the historic rate of return on the University endowment of 8% per year, and assume that the average gift of an SMD graduate to their class scholarship starts at $100 (in current dollars) and increases in steps to $1000 in year 10 and $2000 in year 20, the class scholarship that begins at $165,000 in year 1, grows to $896,000 in year 10, $3,190,000 in year 20 and $9,127,000 in year 30. Assuming a 4% increase in tuition, this class could fund 3.5 full scholarships. And, at year 30, right behind this class would be 29 other class scholarships, building year after year. The accumulated value of the gifts for the 30 classes at that point would be $84,820,000!
Annually, our white coat ceremony that welcomes new medical students into the profession of medicine is called the "Dr. Robert L. and Lillian H. Brent White Coat Ceremony", in honor of Dr. Robert and Lillian Brent, who have given so much to support our students. As alumni of the College (Bob and Lillian both) and Bob as an alumnus of the School of Medicine and Dentistry, they have committed not only their substantial financial support to alumni affairs and innovative student scholarship programs, but their time and energy as well.
For more information please contact: Mary Ann Kiely at 800-333-4428 or email mkiely@admin.rochester.edu.
