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News From the AYA
The Yale Club of Bristol Scholarship Fund Turns
50
May 2003
by K. David Graham '48
K.
David Graham '48 is the treasurer of the Yale Club of Bristol.
An education
at a private college is an expensive proposition. For
example, the price tag these days for a year's tuition at Yale exceeds
$27,000. Add to that another $10,000 for room and board, books,
and other living expenses, and for high school students in a small
town like Bristol, Connecticut, many of whom come from middle-income
or blue-collar families, the cost may seem so daunting that they
simply won't apply to Yale.
Of course, Yale's commitment
to meeting the full financial need of every admitted student makes
an enormous difference in both these perceptions and the financial
realities for families. The average financial-aid package of grants
and loans for a Yale undergraduate with financial need is over $18,000.
As with many Yale Clubs across the country and many individual scholarship
donors, Yale's loyal alumni in Bristol, Connecticut, support Yale's
commitment to meet the full financial need of every admitted undergraduate
by making substantial contributions to Yale's scholarship funds
in the name of students coming from Bristol. This year, the Club
is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Yale Scholarship Fund,
and over the past half century, the YSF has provided in excess of
$500,000 for the support of financial aid to about 125 students,
including Joan Alexander '84, who was appointed a Superior Court
judge at 37—the youngest judge in Connecticut.
"The members of the
Bristol Yale Club have been very generous," says Gregory Hamm '05,
a current YSF recipient. "They've offered invaluable expertise,
experience, and guidance, and it is comforting to know that the
Club is always working to ease the financial difficulty of attending
this institution, provided that I live up to my end of the bargain
and keep my grades up."
Bert Nelson '33BE and
Bart Barnes '29, two of the founding members of the Bristol club,
started the YSF in 1953. Earlier, when a Bristol student was accepted
at Yale, the club would actually pass a hat to collect money to
aid in the student's tuition and expenses. At one club meeting,
Mr. Nelson proposed starting a more formal endowment and by meeting's
end, the 25 club members had raised $30,000. (It should be noted
that at the same meeting, a proposal by the club treasurer to increase
the $4 club dues by a few dollars was voted down.) Although the
Club is small—it has fewer than 30 dues-paying members—the
YSF endowment has now grown to over $550,000.
Originally, the scholarships
were intended only for freshmen entering Yale from Bristol high
schools. Since then, the Club has amended its by-laws, and the scholarship
monies can now be designated either in support of Yale's financial-aid
commitment to undergraduates or to graduate students from Bristol-area
high schools, including schools from three nearby smaller towns.
In 2002, $40,000 of the Club's funds were utilized for aid awards
provided to two undergraduates and four graduate students from the
area.
To find potential YSF
recipients, Club president J. Harwood Norton '44BS and other members
are energetic in their outreach efforts. Every fall, the Club hosts
a reception at the local country club to pitch Yale to promising
students, principals, and guidance counselors from the area. "Many
of these kids are already applying to five or six schools and don't
feel they can afford to apply to one more school," says Mr. Norton.
"We really want to make Yale a possibility so we even promise to
reimburse their application fees to the University."
One of the hallmarks
of the program is that Club members get to know the students they
support, and for scholarship recipient Greg Miska '03, meeting regularly
with his benefactors at various events has been an added benefit.
"Over the past few years I've grown to know and love the members
of the Club," says Miska. "They're an open and inviting group of
fascinating, hospitable, and generous people, and it's my belief
that my Yale education will only be complete when I can count myself
among them." |
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