With the increase of tuition costs, decrease in financial aid costs, outside grants and the Campaign for Mount Holyoke fundraising powerhouse, unrestricted bequests are being saved for endowment investment. We had the best year ever in fundraising this past year and that has helped enormously. We have a strategic and savvy enrollment division that has driven our applicant growth. We exercised strong restraint in the early years of the plan in particular. The larger institutional cost concerns of Mount Holyoke might be swallowed up for students when faced with a tuition bill each semester but even without financial aid, every student directly benefits from increasing the endowment.
Tuition is the price.
A difference between cost and price because of financial aid is one kind of subsidy. These alumnae gifts are pooled into the operating budget and help to subsidize the cost of the Mount Holyoke education for students. The Office of Development and the Office of Communications work closely together in the fundraising process to send a coherent message about the college's excellence to potential donors. In the process of fundraising, the goal is to line up a potential donor's interests with the college's funding needs. The Office of Development is also key in another source of funding.