From the beginning, keeping BU affordable for all qualified students has been an overriding priority.
Why? Because inclusiveness is a central value of our University.
A diverse student body, fully reflective of the vibrant and challenging world around us, is one of our great strengths—and one of our great traditions. But it gets harder every year to preserve that tradition.
While BU is becoming ever more competitive (78,769 students applied for 3,268 spots in the Class of 2028), almost half of the young people who gain admission to BU can’t afford it without assistance. We offer aid packages that are as generous as we can make them. Still, the average undergraduate borrower leaves BU with a debt load of more than $30,000.
“I am super appreciative of my scholarship and could not be here without it. Donors are so important to students like me.” Julyssa Villa Machado (CAS’26)
Now, more than ever, we need to take decisive action to ensure that every deserving student is able to afford BU.
There are many ways to provide opportunity for students at BU:
- Participate in the Century Challenge—for some endowed scholarships, BU will match the good done in your name for 100 years
- Endow a scholarship, fellowship, or prize
- Designate your annual gift to scholarship, or to your favorite school or college—they’ll use it for emergency financial aid, conference fees and travel stipends, and more
Strengthen our Fellowships
PhD students are at the heart of Boston University’s excellence. They drive original research, important discoveries, and the generation of new knowledge. Just as important, they inspire and mentor undergraduates. At scale, robust investments in graduate students promote innovation and economic growth.
Boston University can sustain its own research programs and help build a globally competitive research workforce by expanding funding for PhD fellowships. Gifts of any size to the Future Scholars Fund will be spent at the discretion of the University Provost to award fellowships across the University. In addition, we welcome donors to endow a PhD fellowship in a specific school, college, or area of interest with a minimum gift of $1.2 million.