Scanlan Financial Aid Initiative

“Each year, as we enroll a new class of Loomis Chaffee students, I am filled with gratitude for the Founders’ vision of access. Walking through Grubbs Quad come students whose life trajectory has been changed by the generosity of the Loomis Chaffee community.”

Nancy Cleary
Director of Admission and Financial Aid

In 1874, our Founders, the five visionary Loomis siblings, chartered The Loomis Institute to provide a free education for academically qualified students. In 1913, as first Headmaster Nathaniel Batchelder brought life to their vision of the school, he emphasized “the American ideal of democracy,” a community with students from diverse socioeconomic, political, and religious backgrounds. Fifty years into Loomis Chaffee’s journey, providing a free education became financially impossible.

Since the school began charging tuition in the late 1960s, our financial aid program has served thousands of students who would not have been able to attend Loomis Chaffee due to their family’s financial circumstances. Furthermore, financial aid has allowed us to sustain this commitment to accessibility, thus fostering a diverse and culturally vibrant community that benefits our entire student body. 

Today the school offers $11.5 million in financial assistance to 32 percent of our students, with the average grant covering 78 percent of tuition. The high cost of education continues to be a barrier for many families; therefore, financial aid is more essential than ever to keep the school accessible for talented and deserving students.

Key Features

• Gifts or multi-year commitments of $50,000 or more will be matched by 50 percent.
• The minimum threshold to establish a new named endowed fund is $150,000. With this initiative, however, donors can establish a fund with a minimum commitment of $100,000.
• Donors can give to an existing scholarship fund — or split their gift between more than one existing scholarship fund — as long as the full commitment totals $50,000 or more.
• Upon the successful completion of this initiative, donors will have generously contributed a total of $9,000,000 that will be matched by $4,500,000 from the Scanlan Family Foundation, for a total of $13,500,000 to the endowment for financial aid.
• The initiative will expire once all the matching funds have been utilized.
   

Impact

Through this effort, we will:

• Increase Loomis Chaffee’s annual financial aid budget to more than $12,000,000.
• Increase the percentage of students on financial aid from 32 percent closer to our goal of 40 percent.
• Endow a larger portion of the financial aid budget, freeing up resources for other school priorities. Our long-term goal is for 50 percent of our financial aid budget to be endowed. Upon completing this initiative, 44 percent of our financial aid budget will be endowed, up from 38 percent.
• Play a key role in a broader multi-year comprehensive campaign during which the school will seek to raise at least $35,000,000 for financial aid.
• Help provide access to more families. Currently, only 3 percent of U.S. families can afford a Loomis Chaffee education without financial aid.