Boston University’s College of Communication is committed to training talented writers, researchers, and producers in each of its three academic disciplines:

• Journalism
• Film and Television
• Mass Communication, Advertising, and Public Relations

Distinguished faculty in Boston and at satellite campuses in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles marry their personal experiences with pragmatic lessons to train COM’s 4,400 undergraduate and graduate students—tomorrow’s communications visionaries.

Generous donations to the COM Fund enhance the technological, academic, and programmatic resources available to students and faculty. These initiatives enrich the campus experience, give students and alumni a competitive edge, and bolster COM’s reputation as a premier communications college. They enhance the value of a COMdegree.

COM Fund support is critical in meeting a variety of needs, including:

Emergency Financial Aid
COM’s $34,930 tuition covers only 58 percent of the total cost of educating a student.  While students receive financial aid from the University, based either on merit or need, the COM Fund provides further assistance to students who seek additional support. Your contribution ensures that deserving students have the opportunity to begin—and complete—their studies. 

Program Support

• COM Career Services Center

Employing the COM Career Services Center’s online and in-house resources, 98 percent of our undergraduates find jobs within six months of graduating. This year, the COM Fund will purchase six new workstations and computer software, allowing the Center to multiply its on-campus recruiting efforts, which include career counseling, résumé services and networking workshops, a job database, and the interactive website www.bu.edu/com-csc.

• COM Writing Center

To support COM’s mission of training our nation’s best writers, the Writing Center provides free services to assist students in honing their skills. The COM Fund underwrites its resources and publishes The Comment, an award-winning student magazine.  The Comment has repeatedly been recognized by both the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the Society of Professional Journalists.  Most recently, it was named a national finalist in the “Best Student Magazine” category of the SPJ’s Mark of Excellence awards.

• butv10

At BU’s first student-run television station, butv10, students produce four to five hours of new programming each week and partner with BU Today to produce one-minute campus news updates that air hourly. The COM Fund helps BU’s most visible student media outlet improve its technology and resources to maintain and enhance its level of output.

• Conversations: A Distinguished Lecture Series in Communication

Each semester, industry leaders from nearly every discipline of communications headline this campus lecture series and foster a dialogue about contemporary communications issues. The COM Fund underwrites the cost of these popular events, which are open to all students and alumni.

• Student-Alumni Networking Events

The COM Fund creates opportunities for students and alumni to grow their personal and professional networks. Each year, during spring break, twelve top advertising and film/tv students meet with alumni industry executives and learn how to succeed in competitive markets. Regionally, COM sponsors social and networking events designed to connect its constituents. Adstravaganza!, the Don’t Be That Guy or Girl career workshop, the new media and digital panels in New York City, the COM alumni wine tasting, student film festivals in Boston and Los Angeles, the Blue Chip Awards, COM Alumni Fridays, and many other events give outstanding students the opportunity to meet with accomplished alumni, all of whom share a love for BU and a passion for communications.  

New Technology
The regular upgrade of computer hardware and software enables COM to outpace other institutions in adopting new technologies and providing students with the best media resources. Donations to the COM Fund allow for the purchase, upgrade, and installation of:

• New lighting and camera equipment in our third floor television studios, which are shared by broadcast journalism classes, butv10, and Neighborhood Network News.

• Wireless networks in the COM student lounge and the COM 101 auditorium.

• Multimedia, web design, and DVD software that enable students to produce professional quality videos and design visual elements for websites, magazines, and brochures.

• Digital production equipment, including audio-visual tools, a second video server in the TV control room, satellite-delivered AP Audio services for use by WTBU-AM, additional digital field cameras, and extended non-linear post-production facilities, which enhance the capabilities of broadcast journalism and film and television majors.

Student and Faculty Travel Assistance to Present Prize-Winning Work
Gifts to the COM Fund subsidize travel for faculty experts and talented students who represent COM and present their research at more than 100 conferences and film festivals each year. 

Donations of all sizes enhance COM’s resources and will be acknowledged in COMtalk and on the COM website. Also, those who join our Annual Fund Leadership Giving Societies will receive exclusive benefits outlined at www.bu.edu/alumni/giving/annualfund/societies.

Give Online

Mail a Gift

Annual Fund Leadership Giving Societies

Contact Us