Several years ago, at my financial adviser’s suggestion, I stopped donating to DU. As long as I’m still paying student loans, she reasoned, I’m my own charity.
It was sound advice, but now I’m choosing to ignore it.
I’ve made a donation to support the University’s new fundraising campaign — Ascend.
Chancellor Robert Coombe announced the public phase of the campaign on Oct. 26. It will run until 2014 — DU’s 150th birthday. To learn more about the campaign, visit ascend.du.edu.
Many of you probably remember DU’s last capital campaign — in the late 1990s — which dramatically transformed the University’s physical infrastructure. This campaign, by contrast, will focus primarily on DU’s human infrastructure — the people and the programs that make this university so special.
When I came to DU as an undergraduate in 1991, it was thanks to the generosity of donors who helped pay my tuition and covered the cost of my books through scholarships. Without that support, a University of Denver education would have been out of reach. I’m in their debt.
Now it’s my turn to pay it forward — to help a new generation of students learn and grow and thrive at the University of Denver.
I believe in a vision of DU where tuition is not an obstacle to the best and brightest students. I believe that DU offers an exceptional education. I believe that our students, faculty and alumni are some of the brightest, most creative, most engaged people in the world.
They’re well worth the investment.