Education can transform lives. For nearly 185,000 graduates, George Mason University has helped open the door to opportunities that only an academic degree can offer. One of the goals of the Faster Farther campaign was to increase financial support for students, and we’ve done that. Thanks to the generosity of so many, more than 300 new endowed scholarships have been added to the resources available to students.
The need for this support is real. A large part of Mason’s mission has been to provide educational opportunities for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. During the 2017-18 academic year, more than half of all Mason students—60 percent—received some form of financial aid, totaling of $301.5 million. This aid comes in a variety of forms, from Pell grants and federal work-study funds to student loans and scholarships. Some of this support is based on need; some is based on academic achievement. Among the undergraduates graduating in May 2018, more than one-quarter had qualified for Pell grants, the federal financial aid program supporting low-income students.
“Scholarship funding is crucial to the success of our students,” says Amy Takayama-Perez, BA Sociology ’96, MEd Counseling and Development ’02, and Mason’s dean of admissions. “These dollars make it possible to enroll some of the most talented and diverse students from our region and around the country. We are so proud to have enrolled the largest freshman class in university history this past fall, and our scholarship dollars helped make that happen.”
In this feature, we take a look at Mason students past and present who have benefited from donors’ generosity. Select below to read more.
Cordelia Cranshaw
Ian Lisman
Mihaela Suciu
Evan Draim
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