Donation Leads to Increased Financial Aid

For at least the last fifty years, Dartmouth has undertaken its stated quest to make itself more equitable, supposedly in the name of fulfilling its original founding purpose. With the rededication of the College to its original goal of educating the native people of New England, coinciding with the College’s admission of women, President Kemmeny set off a period of change and reform, continuing through the ensuing decades and culminating in the ascension of Dartmouth’s first female president last year. 

With a generous donation from Glenn and Barbara Britt, Dartmouth has been able to dramatically expand its financial aid program. From this year on, students whose family income totals less than 125,000 dollars will pay no tuition, a doubling of the previous limit of 65,000. Some contributions will be expected from the earnings students make from on-campus jobs and internships, but for the most part, the burden of college tuition will no longer apply to the families whose household income falls within this range. Of the changes made in recent years, this one probably has the largest positive and quantifiable impact, improving as it does the tangible lives of actual people. Unfortunately, the administration cannot be given credit for this shift. 

Rather, the ever-dreaded upper class must be begrudgingly accorded some credit for this social good. For all their hand-wringing over mental health and quality of life, the army of social workers in the various departments of Parkhurst could not manage to accomplish what the Britt family made possible in an instant. Indeed, this is despite the College ostensibly controlling a far larger sum of money. 

That money—the Dartmouth endowment—now totals roughly nine billion dollars, if the 2023 endowment report is to be trusted. According to the most recent Dartmouth financial report, the College received just under 239 million dollars in tuition payments in the year 2023. A large amount of money, certainly, but less than the 379 million in distribution endowment return in that same year. True, without tuition, Dartmouth would have lost money year on year, but by a relatively slim margin in the tens of millions. 

Certainly, the administration could afford to substantially reduce tuition payments, and still have a net positive income. Of course, this is without even considering the growth of the endowment. While 2023 and 2022 have seen relatively mediocre growth due to a generally sluggish stock market, 2021 saw the endowment growth by over two billion dollars, or nearly ten years of tuition income. 

This critique is, of course, not meant to trivialize the donation, or to reject the idea that the Dartmouth community should be grateful to the Britt family for their generosity. 

Rather, it is meant to emphasize that the college should not need to rely on windfall donations from wealthy donors in order to reduce the burden on lower-income students. Perhaps, a reprieve of such magnitude would not have been possible without their donation, but at the very least the tuition limit could have been higher than the previous 65,000 dollars. The College’s Investment Office must be wary of spending its money too loosely, of course, and the long-term financial viability of the institution is their paramount concern. Yet, financial stability must be measured against Dartmouth’s commitment to its students. 

In recent years, we have seen the university engage in downright extractive practices, not least of which was its charging of full tuition during the COVID years, when the term it provided to students was but a farcical mockery of the promised Dartmuth experience. 

Dartmouth seems perfectly willing to spend tens of millions of dollars renovating various buildings and hiring assistants under directors of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or whatever titles they give out WGSS majors with GPAs too low for law school these days. 

The Britt family donation is an paramount example of the sheer potential of human generosity Their gift will leave a lasting positive impact on the lives of hundreds of Dartmouth students and families, more so than any recent effort by the college administration. That students must hope for windfall donations from generous benefactors is a telling indication of who truly has our best interests at heart.