Washington University’s board of trustees has approved a $150 million scholarship initiative called “Opening Doors to the Future: The Scholarship Initiative for Washington University” that will raise funds for student financial aid and scholarships.

“Opening Doors” will last five years, formally beginning Nov. 7 and ending June 30, 2014.

David Blasingame, executive vice chancellor for alumni and development programs, said that if the University mobilizes its affiliates to increase their support of current students, he feels the drive will have succeeded by the ending date.

“We hope we’ll have engaged a larger number of alumni, parents and friends of the University,” Blasingame said. “We hope that those folks will enjoy their experiences in providing those scholarships and that over time they’ll continue their support.”

Money for the drive will be raised in the form of gifts and pledges, mainly from alumni and parents of current students.

“We’ll also contact some non-alumni, non-parent friends of the University who might want to support some of our initiatives,” Blasingame said.

This pool of prospects includes both non-profit foundations and corporations that value contributions made by University students, including contributions in the St. Louis area.

One of the initiative’s most significant components is its $2 million McDonnell challenge grant. This grant, named for John McDonnell, vice chairman of the board, challenges donors to meet certain criteria for their pledges that will result in their donations being matched.

This grant, like the rest of the drive, is intended not only to bring in capital but also to challenge University affiliates to support the University more through student scholarships.

Breaking down the numbers

Last year, the University awarded about $66 million in financial aid to undergraduate students. Over half of all undergraduates received some form of financial aid. Twenty-two percent received aid greater than the cost of tuition.

Graduate students also received aid in large numbers. Eighty-two percent of law students, 89 percent of medical students and 92 percent of social work students received some form of financial assistance.

Bill Witbrodt, director of Student Financial Services, said “Opening Doors” will ensure that the University can maintain these high rates of financial aid and expand the diversity of scholarship recipients.

“What this would do is allow us the flexibility to increase campus diversity in many ways, and to make sure that we can make it financially possible to enroll all the students that we admit,” Witbrodt said.

Drive comes as economy stalls

One of the strongest forces behind the initiative, Blasingame said, is students’ increased need for financial assistance in today’s ill economy.

“What’s happened with the economy has made it such that some of our current students were impacted, and some of the families of our prospective students were impacted,” Blasingame said. “So we’re trying to build up our financial aid resources to try to reach out to those students.”

Witbrodt echoed this sentiment, saying that the “Opening Doors” initiative will go a long way toward keeping financial aid stable in rough waters.

“We don’t know what the future will bring,” Witbrodt said. “And we need to have a scholarship base.”