<p>Just announced today</p>
<p>[Mercersburg</a> Academy in central Pa. gets $100 million gift](<a href=“http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20131010_Mercersburg_Academy_in_central_Pa__gets_record-breaking_gift.html]Mercersburg”>Mercersburg Academy in central Pa. gets $100 million gift)</p>
<p><a href=“Photography”>Photography;
<p>Can you say FINANCIAL AID? Wow!</p>
<p>I know! But they already provide FA to almost half the students. Perhaps the average grant will increase? If this gift goes directly into the endowment, the endowment per student will be in the same class as Deer field, Groton, Hotchkiss, et all.</p>
<p>I love this beautiful school, but more importantly, my daughter loves it…the people, the classes, the campus.</p>
<p>Wow!!! great story!!! Congratulations to the Mercersburg community!!!</p>
<p>This gift is jump starting a campaign for the school with the goal of
</p>
<p>I don’t know if this means “need blind” but it sounds like it.</p>
<p>^^They actually spelled it out loud and clear!
</p>
<p>I just got a message from my daughter and she said that Ms Simon announced it to the students after lunch. (Lunches at Mercersburg are family style sit downs.) She is very excited and very proud to be a part of the school right now.</p>
<p>Neato, you beat me to this posting! My daughter who is now at Bucknell, called me to tell me of the gift. She is so proud to be a fellow alum to the extraordinary donor.</p>
<p>To me, one of the best indicators of a school’s greatness is how the alumni feel about their alma mater. This gift speaks volumes and I hope it will inspire others to give generously also.</p>
<p>Well done. </p>
<p>zp</p>
<p>Deerfield alum '84 gave $25mm for FA on Friday. Great to see alumni support for FA at so many schools.</p>
<p>^^Was it an anonymous gift? Do you have a link to the news?</p>
<p>It isn’t an anonymous gift, but it’s not made public yet. Sent via an email from the Headmaster Dr. Curtis to the parents and alumni according to my friends at Deerfield. This $25 million gift for FA should be a boon for the new applicants to Deerfield needing FA.</p>
<p>this is like announcing your engagement at someone else’s wedding…</p>
<p>Great news for Mercersburg! it was already on my list for child #2 :)</p>
<p>It is wonderful to see such incredible generosity. Although we may never see again such a gift from a grateful graduate to her/his prep school, it should inspire us all to give what we can, no matter how big or small, to the prep school(s) we love. Without such lifeblood, private prep schools die. God bless, Ms. Simon.</p>
<p>It is inspiring indeed. 25million is a matching gift so a part of it is to inspire others. My contributions, on the other hand, definitely fall into the “every little bit helps” category!</p>
<p>My daughter and I attended an Open House at Mercersburg this past weekend. It is a beautiful facility and the event was outstanding. I spoke with several current parents who had nothing but good things to say about the school. Everyone was friendly. From the gentleman who directed me to a parking space to the faculty at the lunch table to the young ladies who led our tour group. I was highly impressed and we will definitely be going through the application process.</p>
<p>I’ve been intentionally laying low on the forum recently, and have wanted to comment on the recent Mercersburg gift. </p>
<p>Not so long ago, a George School alumna gave $165 million to that fine school in Bucks County, PA.</p>
<p>Two great schools. Two incredibly generous donations, each the size of some schools’ total endowments.</p>
<p>But here’s my question:
Will these landmark gifts help attract masses of additional prospects to either of these schools?</p>
<p>While I’d hope so, while I’d like that to be true…I doubt that will happen. </p>
<p>And that makes me just a little sad. Because it means there are a number of kids who are shutting themselves out of great educations, affordable educations, educations on campuses of stunning beauty and first rate facilities, educations among smart, motivated classmates, educations led by inspirational teachers…because of a bias (possibly that of their parents) toward a handful of New England schools with more famous names.</p>
<p>I sincerely hope Mercersburg sees influx of applications and a higher yield for years to come.</p>
<p>I have to wonder how much George is putting toward FA; they are doing a lot of building. Mercersburg seems to already have upgraded their facilities (apparently with help from this same donor), so more of this gift may go toward FA. That seems to be their intent, anyway.</p>
<p>From the George School website: “Approximately 50 percent of our students receive some financial aid. The average boarding student financial aid award is over $36,500 and the average day student award is nearly $21,500. Our financial aid program (almost one quarter of our annual operating budget) represents one of the most significant commitments to financial aid of any independent school in the country.”</p>
<p>Another cool Mercersburg story: My daughter graduated in June and told me that some alum gave a big gift to cover the class of 2013 for the next four years. He was NOT a parent of any child in that class. He does this every so often so that these recent grads will not get called to donate during their college years.</p>
<p>His gift, while awesome in my eyes, made my daughter sad. She worked the phone-a-thon for all four years and couldn’t wait to get called. When Ms. Simon made her incredible gift, my daughter wrote her a thank you note and promptly sent $50 to the campaign.</p>
<p>zp</p>