Syracuse Responds provides additional financial aid for 426 current students

Tuesday, February 24, 2009, By News Staff

Syracuse Responds provides additional financial aid for 426 current studentsFebruary 24, 2009Kevin Morrowkdmorrow@syr.edu

The Syracuse Responds initiative, a short-term fundraising effort to help Syracuse University provide additional financial aid to students impacted by the current economic crisis, raised funds to enable 426 students to return to school for the spring semester.

Syracuse Responds was launched on Dec. 5, 2008, in response to a significant increase in the number of urgent requests for additional aid. At the end of the eight-week campaign, the initiative received a total of $1,028,160 in gifts from SU alumni, friends, parents, faculty, staff and students, reporting:

  • 1,829 individual donors gave gifts ranging in size from $1 to $180,000.
  • The single largest donor group was alumni, at 64.84 percent.
  • One-fifth (20.24 percent) were recent grads and current students.
  • Parents and former parents made up 17.7 percent.
  • 13.29 percent were SU faculty and staff.
  • Donors came from 42 states, one U.S. territory and 11 countries in addition to the United States.

Included in the dollars raised was a $150,000 challenge grant from John Chapple ’75, chairman of the SU Board of Trustees. The Chapple Challenge matched gifts dollar-for-dollar, and two-to-one for gifts from alumni who graduated within the past 10 years.

To learn more about The Syracuse Responds initiative, visit http://syracuseresponds.syr.edu.