Osher Foundation Makes Landmark Gift to California Community Colleges

In recent weeks the San Francisco Chronicle has been reporting stories about an encouraging trend among our nation's elite universities that is making it easier for low-, middle- and in some cases upper-middle-income students to afford the high price tag of a college education.  More than three dozen schools, including institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and Yale with robust fundraising operations and large endowments have been able to allocate funds to cap or eliminate loans, tuition or parental contributions for economically disadvantaged students and families. 

While this is good news for those who can meet the entrance requirements of these institutions, some expressed concern that the schools where low- and middle-income students most tend to go can not afford to offer similar tuition breaks.  Public universities tend to have much smaller endowments than privately funded institutions, and community colleges typically do not receive large philanthropic gifts.  So this week's pledge of $50 million from the San Francisco-based Bernard Osher Foundation to the California Community College system to help low-income students at California community colleges is well timed to address these concerns since the system serves 2.6 million students each year, many of them low-income.  Since part of it is structured as a challenge grant it also signals a likely increase in foundation and individual donations to California's community colleges.  Here are more details, from our own Philanthropy News Digest, about what is believed to be the largest donation ever made to a private-institution in the United States:

The gift will be used to create an endowment for the 109-school system that will be managed by the Foundation for California Community Colleges in Sacramento. Half of the pledge will be paid immediately, while the additional $25 million will be dispensed over the next three years while FCCC works to raise an additional $50 million. According to Osher president Mary Bitterman, the foundation has given millions to universities over the past few years, but community colleges need significantly more financial assistance.

With 2.6 million students, California's community-college system is the world's largest public college system. The new endowment is expected to support 1,250 scholarships in 2009 and eventually provide 5,000 per year. The foundation is expected to announce an additional $20 million grant to several California public universities to help community-college transfer students.

According to FCCC president Paul Lanning, potential donors to community colleges simply haven't been asked to provide support. "[The Osher gift] shows that we warrant public support," he said. "There's a very clear disparity between what we do and how we're funded. We can't keep relying on public funding."

Krupnick, Matt. "Endowment to Aid Needy Students." San Jose Mercury News 5/05/08

Sturrock, Carrie. "Biggest Gift Ever for Community Colleges." San Francisco Chronicle 5/7/08