Scholarships

These words, spoken by Ezra Cornell, inspired a vision that has guided Cornell University since its inception. By admitting "any person" who meets the university's academic standards, Cornell has always educated a broad range of students. Their diverse talents, contributions, and experiences shaped Cornell's history and continue to forge its future as a world-class institution. The university's dedication to need-blind admissions and need-based financial aid exemplifies Ezra Cornell's founding principle. Alumni and friends who support undergraduate scholarships help realize his vision.

Undergraduate Scholarship Giving Opportunities

Scholarship endowment is critical to ensuring that Cornell’s doors remain open to bright and deserving students regardless of their financial circumstances. An endowed scholarship or fellowship becomes a permanent tribute to the person whose name it bears, and it can always be augmented. In many families, adding to a scholarship fund has become a multi-generational tradition. For gifts of $75,000 and over, donors receive annual reports on the student(s) who receive the awards and on the financial status of the fund.

	Named Ezra Cornell Scholarship $1 million or more provides extensive scholarship support to four students at once—one student per class each year.
	Named Andrew Dickson White Scholarship $500,000 or more gives significant scholarship support to two students each year.
	Named Anna B. Comstock Scholarship $250,000 or more ensures scholarship assistance for one student each year. Anna B. Comstock Scholarships honor the first woman at Cornell to hold faculty rank in 1898.
	Named Emma S. Eastman Scholarship $100,000 or more supports one student each year. Emma S. Eastman Scholarships recognize the first woman to earn a Cornell degree in 1873.

Named Scholarship Fund

$50,000 or more establishes a named scholarship fund. Income from these endowments is pooled to support needy students and may be directed to support students in a particular college or school. Young alumni may establish a named scholarship fund with a gift of $25,000.

The Cornell Tradition: Rewarding Work Service And Scholarship

"You are here to build a university," said president Andrew Dickson White to the first class of Cornellians in 1865. White and Ezra Cornell felt that labor was an essential element to complete an otherwise purely academic program. In exchange for their labor, the university forgave part of the cost of students’ education. The Tradition continues the founder's vision of rewarding students who work and serve their communities while obtaining an undergraduate degree.

About The Tradition

The Cornell Tradition is an alumni endowed fellowship program at Cornell University that recognizes and rewards outstanding students dedicated to work, service, and scholarship. Established in 1982 through an anonymous gift of $7 million, the program awards 600 fellowships each year to Cornell undergraduates who have demonstrated significant work experience, make meaningful contributions to campus and/or community service, and maintain a high level of academic achievement.

The Cornell Tradition Provides:

• Grants that replace loans of up to $4,000 each year
• Stipends for summer internships in non- profit fields
• Leadership training and networking opportunities
• A wage subsidy for working on campus work
• Opportunities for interaction with faculty members
• Social and service events with fellows, faculty members, and other Cornellians
• Summer savings replacements for career-related jobs

Need Blind Admissions

Cornell admits students without regard to their financial circumstances. Once they're admitted, the university works with students and their families to create a financial aid package that includes scholarship grants, work-study opportunities, loans, and student and family contributions.

Why does Cornell place so much importance on honoring its tradition of assisting needy students?

By admitting students regardless of their ability to pay for their education, Cornell gets the most talented people from all walks of life. That diversity makes the university a microcosm of the world. Students learn from their differences and build on the things they hold in common as Cornellians and as people.