Largest Gift in Emerson History to Support Scholarships

Emerson has received the largest gift in its 138-year history: $4 million to establish an Opportunity Scholarship Fund so that more students from socioeconomically disadvantaged families and underserved populations can attend the College.                       

In 2016, the donors, who wish to remain anonymous, gave Emerson $1 million to establish a College Completion Fund that allows Emerson students with financial need to stay enrolled and continue their studies.

“The donors’ remarkable generosity enables Emerson to help ensure access for the best and brightest creative minds, regardless of their financial circumstances,” President Lee Pelton said in an announcement to the Emerson community.

“With this unprecedented gift, we strengthen our commitment to making an Emerson education accessible, to enriching the experience of all our students by promoting socioeconomic and cultural diversity on campus, and to diversifying our creative force.”

More than half of Emerson students receive financial aid, making scholarships a top fundraising priority for the College.

The donors’ total gift of $5 million will allow more students like Taylor Roberts ’18, a Media Arts Production major, to focus more on her classes and internship, and less on her “making ends meet.”

“I am so excited for the things that I’m working on this semester, and without [a] scholarship… it wouldn’t have been possible,” Roberts said.

Marketing Communication major Karin Yehoudian ’18 said Emerson has so much to offer students, professionally and academically.

“[I]f it weren’t for [scholarship assistance], I know I would have had to sacrifice my comfort or another aspect of my college experience to make it work,” Yehoudian said.