Bates College receives $50M grant to expand student financial aid

File photo / Tim Greenway Bates College President Clayton Spencer called the $50 million challenge gift from the Schuler Education Foundation a "game-changer."

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By Staff

Bates College on Tuesday announced it will receive up to $50 million in a challenge gift from a Chicago billionaire, representing one of the largest scholarship-focused donations ever to a Maine college.

The funds from the Schuler Education Foundation, to be given in a dollar-for-dollar match with other donor gifts over the next five years, will fund expansion of Bates’ financial aid, according to a news release. The private, liberal arts school in Lewiston said it is aiming to increase enrollment of aid-eligible, low-income and undocuments students by 50% over the next decade.

Bates, founded in 1855, currently has a total enrollment of about 2,000 students.

The Schuler Education Foundation was established by Jack Schuler, 81, an entrepreneur and former president and chief operating officer of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) who has an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion, Forbes magazine reported earlier this year.

The foundation’s Schuler Access Initiative plans to award up to 20 U.S. colleges and universities a total of $500 million by 2031 in order to increase their enrollment of students whose financial need qualifies them for federal Pell grants, or whose undocumented status makes them ineligible for federal aid programs.

Bates is one of five schools throughout the U.S. chosen as the initiative’s first partners. The others are Carleton College, in Northfield, Minn.; Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio; Union College, Schenectady, N.Y.; and Tufts University, Medford, Mass.

The Schuler challenge gift is a "game-changer," Bates President Clayton Spencer said in the release.

“Bates was founded by people who believed in the power of education to develop the full potential of every human being. This extraordinary investment from the Schuler Education Foundation, combined with the generosity of Bates donors, provides us with the means to renew this founding vision in a very real and tangible way.”

John D. Gillespie, chair of the college’s board of trustees, said, “Combined with the deep generosity of the Bates community, this new grant creates an extraordinarily meaningful and powerful $100 million partnership. There is no doubt it will be transformative, not just for the individuals it touches, but for this institution.”

Schuler’s daughter, Tanya Schuler Sharman, said in a separate news release, “The Schuler Access Initiative will allow the initial five colleges, and hopefully many more, to open up more seats for these deserving students and push forward the important conversation liberal arts institutions need to have to close the divide in an unequal society.”

In addition to the challenge gift, Bates is currently nearing completion of $300 million capital fundraising campaign, the largest in the college’s history. Launched in 2015, the Bates Campaign has raised a total of $263 million. The prior all-time high for Bates was a $121 million capital drive that concluded in 2006.