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Faculty-Staff Giving

The University has a long-standing commitment to accessible, high-quality education. Bringing together qualified students from all economic backgrounds is of crucial importance; an extraordinary undergraduate education is one that allows students to learn and lead in the real world.

Chancellor Biddy Martin's current focus on financial aid is based on the cost of secondary education and on the projected need for an educated workforce in Wisconsin and beyond in the decades ahead.

As they saw how costs were rising, faculty and staff identified student access and affordability as major issues. They seized on the UW Foundation’s offer of a match for gifts supporting students, and took action. The University Committee, the Faculty Senate and the Academic Staff Assembly and members of classified staff have stepped forward to support students with financial challenges. The Faculty-Staff Great People Scholarship Initiative, led by its steering committee, has energized campus and generated funds to endow need-based scholarships for generations.

• The UW Foundation can match gifts for student support dollar for dollar. Endowment-level gifts to schools and colleges are being matched 50 cents to the dollar.
• Students can no longer simply "work their way through school." Earning $9 an hour, a student today would need to work 62 hours per week year round to pay the full cost of attending the University.
• For academic year 2006-07, the average total debt for an undergraduate was $21,018. About 48 percent of undergraduates carry debt at graduation.

Recipients of Great People Scholarships are determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid after the recipients' admission to the University. All scholarship recipients meet merit-based admissions criteria.

Make a difference today in the lives of students and preserve the socioeconomic diversity that makes the UW-Madison educational experience extraordinary. Make a gift to the Great People Scholarship.