Keeping our promise

The immediate impact of The Brown Promise

The Brown Promise builds on almost 20 years of action taken to make Brown more affordable and accessible, starting with the move to need-blind admission for domestic applicants in 2003. Five years later, the University eliminated parent contributions for families making less than $60,000 per year and removed loans from financial aid packages of students whose families earn less than $100,000 per year. The Brown Promise was the next step to ensure that a wider cross-section of exceptional students could choose to attend, regardless of their financial constraints.

“I think people are realizing that there were real limitations in the past to having very qualified students attend Brown,” says Buffum, who has directed her giving to financial aid for more than four decades. “The only way you get people to move up the economic ladder is education, and if you deny that opportunity to a group of students at high-level institutions, you’re just perpetuating the issue.”

The impact of giving to financial aid programs in general, and The Brown Promise in particular, has been both rapid and inspiring. The University has seen a more than 43% increase in application volume, a 57% drop in personal borrowing, and a 15% increase in students from moderate-income families choosing to matriculate at Brown.

“When I was applying to Brown, my family was a little hesitant because they thought, ‘Are we going to be able to afford this?’” says Ayla Kim ’25, who is currently benefiting from The Brown Promise. “Brown has world-renowned faculty, amazing departments, and an outstanding learning environment. I just feel thankful that I’m able to afford to go to a place like this and it won’t eat away at my family’s finances.”

Kim, who is considering a concentration in economics and behavioral decision sciences, has taken advantage of Brown’s Open Curriculum to explore her interests and received additional financial support to participate in a remote internship with an educational organization in the San Diego area.

“I definitely feel less stressed in terms of choosing a career path,” she says. “I think having that reduced financial burden after college allows me to enjoy college and what comes after it without feeling the responsibility to get a lucrative job where I might have to work 12, 14 hours a day just to recoup my losses from paying for school. It feels very liberating and empowering.”

Creating a culture of giving

As the BrownTogether campaign moves toward its completion in December 2024, the University is still engaged in raising scholarship funding for both domestic and international students, and donors can still contribute to the Brown Promise endowment. The ongoing collaboration of the Brown community worldwide will help ensure that future generations will have the most transformative experiences possible on College Hill.

“I have been motivated to give because I know that every dollar counts,” says Jin. “I can see that supporting loan removal and financial aid makes students’ lives easier and allows them to focus on what makes them happy.”

And when happy students become successful alumni, Buffum says, the cycle of giving is strengthened.   

“As more students benefit from Brown scholarships and then start earning money in their lives after graduation, this is something that they will want to perpetuate.”