October 3, 2011

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Indiana students will have more Purdue University scholarship opportunities thanks to a new $6.7 million challenge issued by President France A. Córdova.

Córdova announced this summer that $7 million would be used to stimulate efforts to raise private donations for student support. About $300,000 of that was dedicated to support veterans and their dependents, and the remaining $6.7 million will be available for the Indiana Challenge Match.

"This challenge will help us inspire more people to create a legacy that supports students from Indiana who are working hard to study at Purdue," Córdova said. "More of Indiana's brightest students continue to choose Purdue, and establishing more endowments will make a Purdue education possible for many future generations of these Hoosier students."

The match helps donors meet the necessary minimum of $25,000 to establish a scholarship endowment by matching a cash gift of $12,500, said Timothy D. Sands, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.

"To encourage larger endowments, a 10 percent bonus will be added to the endowment for gifts of $25,000 or more. Historically, a new endowment does not produce enough income to award a scholarship during the first year," he said. "This bonus will allow a scholarship to be awarded the same year the endowment is fully funded."

The scholarships must be unrestricted to allow Purdue to award scholarships for strategic enrollment needs now and in the future. However, a donor can designate one of the following areas: college, school, department, university honors, university diversity programs or other university unrestricted scholarships.

The gifts for the Indiana Challenge Match will contribute to the Access and Success student scholarship and programming campaign. The campaign brought in $42.6 million in 2010-2011, and that brings the total raised through four years of the campaign to $170.6 million, which is on target to reach its $304 million goal by 2014. The campaign supports the Presidential and Trustees Scholarships, Marquis Scholarships for middle-income students, Emerging Urban Leaders Scholarships for students from targeted urban areas, and other general scholarships.

This fall, Purdue welcomed it strongest academically prepared class, and that includes the profile of Indiana students. First-year students from Indiana showed an average 10-point increase on the SAT from 1690 last year to 1700 this year. According to data from the College Board, 574 Indiana high school graduates in 2011 achieved a 2100-2400 total SAT score and self-reported an A or A+ high school grade point average. Purdue's 2011 freshman class includes more than 240 Indiana students who meet comparable achievement thresholds.

These funds were made possible by one-time gains from university investments realized this past fiscal year. In addition to the scholarship funds, Córdova announced this summer that $6 million also was available to aid faculty recruitment efforts by enhancing the start-up packages for research support.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Sources:   France A. Córdova, president@purdue.edu
Timothy Sands, 765-494-9709, tsands@purdue.edu

Related news release:
Purdue announces new investments in student scholarships, faculty recruitment efforts:
http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/students/2011/110714CordovaScholarship.html

Indiana Challenge Match

October 2011

Amount available to match and bonus payment is $6,705,000     
These funds were made possible by one-time gains from university investments realized this past fiscal year.

1. Must be an unrestricted scholarship for West Lafayette campus to allow Purdue to award scholarships to strategic enrollment needs now and in the future.  Dean designee or DFA may select.
2. Restrict to Indiana resident, but no county or city restrictions.
3. May restrict by one ONE of the following:
   • A college, school, or department, but not majors
   • College of Pharmacy and School of Veterinary Medicine professional programs
   • Honors Programs
   • Diversity Programs
   • University level scholarship programs that are unrestricted
4. First come, first serve until matching and bonus dollars are committed.  Plan to meet goal by May 31, 2012, but donors may pledge over 5 years.  Encourage pledges paid by June 30, 2013.  Corporate matching dollars are eligible for the match, but anticipated matches cannot be part of a pledge.
5. Matching amounts: 
   • To encourage new endowment donors, gifts of $12.5 will be matched 1:1 to create new endowments at the minimum endowment level of $25K.
   • To encourage larger endowments of $25,000 or higher, a 10% bonus based on the donor’s gift will be added directly to the support account of their endowment (upon fulfillment of the gift) for immediate impact for students.

     Endowments normally take a year or two to build enough income (currently 5% distribution) to be awarded, so the bonus allows the endowment to begin awards immediately.  Example – a gift of $100,000 would have a $10,000 bonus distributed to the endowment support account to be awarded immediately to students. The university will add $100,000 to the endowment for a total endowment account of $200,000. 

   • Encourage Charitable IRA Rollover Distribution gifts up to $100K for this match – but remind donors that Charitable IRA Rollover gifts must be contributed to Purdue University – not Purdue Foundation (according to IRS rules).
   • Distributions of matches and bonus amounts will take place once the pledge is paid in full.
6. Must be new dollars, not reallocated or realized estate gifts. Because the source of funds will require a special statement in endowment agreements, donors with existing scholarships that would like to make additional gifs would have to start a new fund or amend their existing endowment to reflect the intent of this program.

To learn more about the Indiana Challenge Match or to set up an endowed scholarship, please contact the HHS Advancement office at (765) 494-7890 or hhsalums@purdue.edu.