Kenyon Access Initiative with the Schuler Education Foundation

A $50 million scholarship opportunity 

Kenyon has the rare and unique opportunity to secure $25 million in 1:1 matching funds from the Schuler Education Foundation over the next five years to create a new scholarship for high-achieving students whose families have limited resources and those who are ineligible for government aid.

About Schuler Education Foundation

The Schuler Education Foundation seeks to further the success of individuals and communities by investing in high-achieving underrepresented students and top-tier liberal arts colleges. Kenyon is one of a handful of schools that has been invited to partner in this initiative.

“I’m hoping that the Access Initiative shifts the industry mindset when it comes to Pell-eligible and undocumented students. Too often these students are described in terms of cost rather than benefits. The money needed to enroll them, for example, rather than the incredible lived experiences they bring to campus. That’s such a missed opportunity for a campus that wants to serve amazing, smart, hard-working students,” said Jason Patenaude, executive director of the foundation.

Alumni are already responding

Jim Finn ’70, a member of the campaign leadership committee and Board of Trustees, and his wife were early donors to the initiative. “Susan and I are delighted to support the Kenyon Access Initiative. This opportunity fits so well with Kenyon's existing diversity, equity and inclusion goals, as well as our own desires to support those efforts in a meaningful way. The Schuler Foundation’s very generous funds match is simply too good to pass up,” Finn said.

Susan Berger ’85, another member of the Board of Trustees, also jumped at the opportunity. “Without the need-based financial aid I received, Kenyon would not have been a possibility. My own experience and my commitment to building a more richly diverse campus motivated me to stretch my giving to take advantage of the Schuler match, as this aid is critical to creating pathways to Kenyon,” Berger said.

 A permanent pathway for highly qualified students to enroll each year

This partnership moves us closer to our goal of enrolling the most talented students, regardless of their financial circumstances. It also provides an unprecedented opportunity to focus our outreach on the crucial importance of supporting these students through systems Kenyon already has in place. 

We believe it is essential to enroll a student body reflective of our nation and the world. We have made strong progress in recent years; however, each year we turn away outstanding students simply because Kenyon cannot afford to admit them. This new scholarship would create a permanent pathway for roughly 50 highly qualified students each year, as part of Kenyon's broader goal to increase the number of Pell-eligible or Dreamer students at Kenyon by more than 50 percent.