Andrea Guzman’s life story is one that presidential candidates like to proclaim is only possible in America. Born in Colombia, Guzman and her family sought a better life in Canada when the country erupted in political unrest. They eventually moved to Virginia when her father was offered an engineering job. As Andrea talks about how she got to Simon’s Rock, it doesn’t take long to see why she belongs here. This sophomore is exceptionally bright, intellectually imaginative, thoughtful, and deeply engaged—with her education and the world.

Andrea is just the kind of student that Bard College at Simon’s Rock wants on campus. The feeling is mutual. Students like Andrea are the type of achievers looking to enroll. “When I got the literature about the school, I thought it was really interesting,” and then, “I visited and fell in love.”

Despite the mutual feelings, one thing stood between Andrea and campus: funding. “When I told my father about how much it cost he was silent. Then he laughed and said, ‘You better get to work.’” Andrea is paying for college herself, so her father wasn’t kidding when he made the suggestion. The prospect of getting in and not being able to afford to come was daunting. But, she says, “I was willing to work hard to try and find scholarships.”

Leslie Davidson, the dean of admission and student affairs says, “The most common reason an admitted student doesn’t come to Simon’s Rock is cost.” This is something she’d like to change. “Ideally, I’d like us to be able to meet 100%of each admitted student’s demonstrated need.”

Susan Emerson Clapp, the director of institutional advancement points out there are two primary ways to help support this goal: giving to the endowment which “will have significance for generations of students,” and contributing to the Annual Fund, which “immediately funds scholarships and grants administered by the College.” However, Clapp underscores that in order to ensure that generations of students from all socio-economic backgrounds get here, “We must rely on the generosity of its donors to help students with the greatest need offset the cost of this education.”

The real cost

The annual tuition, room, and board at Simon’s Rock is $49,000 a year. And that’s not the most shocking figure. To provide a student with the top quality, deeply personal education families and students have come to expect, it actually costs Simon’s Rock nearly $54,000 per student, each year. These figures are typical. Colleges across the country are scrambling to bridge this financial gap and to help meet the mounting need of prospective students, as federal and state support for higher education erodes and drives up the cost of education.

Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Williams, along with a handful of other colleges that occupy the rare strata of institutions with billion and multimillion dollar endowments, have been praised for heeding recent calls by Congress to use their wealth to diminish cost. These institutions have committed to offering substantial aid packages that will eliminate a bulk of student debt. And at Harvard, the cost is waved entirely for families earning $60,000 or less. These initiatives are predominately supported by their exceptionally established endowments.

For Bard College at Simon’s Rock the challenge is more complicated. Helping admitted students afford a Simon’s Rock education, without sacrificing the quality that characterizes the experience, requires profound creativity and a dedicated base of supporters. Because Simon’s Rock is young, truly unique, and only beginning to establish an endowment “the College must do more with less,” says Clapp. It’s no cliché when Clapp and the associate director of development for the annual fund, Starr Cornell say that “every gift counts.”