When Thuy Dang ’19 arrived on the Colorado College campus, she was prepared for the rigorous demands of academic life. When Thuy Dang ’19 arrived on the Colorado College campus, she was prepared for the rigorous demands of academic life. She had graduated from the Preuss School UC San Diego — a unique charter middle and high school for low-income students who strive to be the first in their families to graduate from college.

In recent years, Colorado College has made great strides to increase access to students from all socio-economic backgrounds. The college offers nearly 400 scholarships now, and through Building on Originality: The Campaign for Colorado College, CC anticipates raising funds for another 180 scholarships.

As a high school freshman, Lili Uchida '19 had a snowboarding accident that caused a brain hemorrhage. Drawn to CC because of the flexibility of the Block Plan, Uchida found a home in the neuroscience department. As a high school freshman, Lili Uchida ’19 had a snowboarding accident that caused a brain hemorrhage.

When Kyle Samuel was considering colleges, his list included Colorado College, the University of Texas, the University of Colorado, and Dartmouth College. He chose CC in part because the T. Roosevelt Collins Memorial Scholarship helped to ease the burden of the cost of college for his family. Although he still had to work throughout his college years, the scholarship made CC accessible and his post-college debt economically viable.

When donors invest in scholarships it’s an investment in the future for the individual recipients and for the college itself. By providing greater access to a CC education and expanding the CC experience to a wide range of people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, the college as a whole is enriched because we can admit more independent thinkers, creators, and trailblazers – regardless of their ability to pay.

“At 17 months I became an orphan, and I was handed over to my father’s mother. She was 55 years of age, in poor health, illiterate, and she had no money,” says Benton. “When rent went up from $5 per month to $8 per month, my grandmother couldn’t afford it, so starting in my junior year of high school, we lived in a single-room shed with a concrete floor.

Colorado College received $44.7 million in gifts, pledges and estate commitments during its 2017 fiscal year, which concluded on June 30. During the year, 6,136 alumni gave to the college the highest participation since 2008. The total raised bests last year’s $42.2 million and represents the second year in a row giving to the college topped $40 million.

Colorado College is an increasingly attractive choice for prospective students. The 586 students who comprise the Class of 2019 were selected from a record-breaking applicant pool of 8,064 students. Among the accepted students, an unprecedented 15 percent were eligible for the Federal Pell Grant Program, which provides need-based grants to low-income students.