Show your support for Financial Aid Initiative

Without the University's commitment to financial aid, we wouldn't all be here.

Currently, 20 percent of Duke's financial aid payments come from the University's endowment. The other 80 percent comes from its operating budget, which is the same pool of money used to pay for most other expenses. Such dependence on the operating budget for financial aid funds could become untenable given the continuously rising costs of maintaining quality faculty, facilities and research.

Our school needs to continue to build its endowment to make sure that funding for financial aid becomes more permanent and stable in the future. We need to catch up with our peer institutions like Harvard and Stanford. The University knows this, and it is now launching a Financial Aid Initiative in response. This Initiative will ensure the long-term stability of financial aid at Duke. It will thus ensure that Duke remains at the forefront of education and that students like us can continue to come here and have the same experiences that we're having now.

The Board of Trustees will be visiting here early next month. Let's show them and all of Duke's supporters how much we appreciate them bringing us all together. I have been serving this fall as a member of the Financial Aid Initiative Student Advisory Council, and it has opened my eyes to how far a little student support can go. There will be an e-mail sent out to all students in a few days-sign it, show your support and make sure to pick up your "I Support Financial Aid" button outside The Great Hall Dec. 1 and 2.

David Shapiro

Trinity '08