They are the tangible signs of a University positioning itself for the future and resolved to assume the mantle of the nation's premier small public research university. It is a bold and uplifting vision, and the key to advancing from vision to reality lies in the success of the University's $250 million Campaign for the University of Vermont.

A Priority on Scholarships

Gradually increasing the size of the student body by approximately 2,000 undergraduates and 700 graduate students over a ten-year period is an enrollment strategy that President Daniel Mark Fogel has called "the only plausible engine to drive our pursuit of excellence over the course of the next ten years." The challenge will be not only to grow the size of the student body but to attract more of the best-qualified applicants, raising the bar for admissions and elevating the academic profile of the institution across the board. Those top candidates for admission, of course, are also being courted by many other excellent colleges and universities with which UVM competes for the best and the brightest. And when it comes time for those students to choose where they will attend, the financial assistance an institution is able to offer is a major factor in the decision.

UVM's capacity to offer undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships to its most promising applicants is therefore critical to the success of its ten-year vision and strategic financial plan — a reality that places student support at the top of the priorities list for The Campaign for the University of Vermont. Scholarships and fellowships account for $105 million of the campaign's $250 million goal.

Rising to the Challenge

Crea and Philip Lintilhac of Shelburne, Vermont, are both graduates of the University of Vermont and made a $1million gift through the Lintilhac Foundation to encourage others to give to scholarship support at UVM.

"It is always easy to give to a pet project, but we want to do something that will help the university with its top priorities, and it is clear that student scholarships are the greatest area of need," says Crea Lintilhac.

The Lintilhac gift will be used to grow the number of endowed scholarships at UVM by offering donors an incentive to give. UVM sets a minimum threshold of $100,000 to establish a named, endowed scholarship. The Lintilhac challenge offers to match fifty percent of scholarship gifts starting at $67,000, enabling those donors to meet the $100,000 threshold and sponsor a named and endowed scholarship.

Philip Lintilhac has been a member of the UVM faculty since 1976, and he sees scholarship support as key to the university's future. "Quite simply, broadening the base of scholarship assistance enables us to offer support to outstanding students who might otherwise go elsewhere," he said. "We hope our gift will catalyze scholarship support from others, as well."

Not everyone has the capacity to endow a scholarship, of course, and in fact, endowed scholarships are only one side of a two-sided need. While endowments provide a stable source of scholarship funding in perpetuity, only a portion of the earnings on those substantial investments can be expended each year as student aid. It is equally important that the University raise scholarship funds that can be distributed to students immediately and in their entirety — a major objective of annual giving through the UVM Fund.

Bruce M. Lisman, co-chair of The Campaign for the University of Vermont and a member of the UVM Class of 1969, has issued a challenge to boost giving to scholarships through annual giving. Lisman will match any new gifts to the UVM Fund designated for scholarships during the 2004-2005 fiscal year on a dollar-for-dollar basis, until the challenge pool of $250,000 has been consumed. Successful completion of the challenge will add $500,000 toward the scholarship goal and double the impact of many smaller gifts from alumni, parents, and friends.

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