Boston College announced the largest fundraising campaign in its history on Thursday. “Soaring Higher: The Campaign for Boston College” is a $3 billion initiative to raise money for BC academics, financial aid, and student life, according to a University release.
“Soaring Higher represents the largest fundraising effort in the history of Boston College and invites consideration not only of BC’s heritage and mission, but also its future, which is full of such promise,” University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., said in the release. “I am confident that the campaign’s focus on obtaining additional resources for academics, financial aid, and student life will help the University to maintain its upward trajectory.”
The Soaring Higher initiative doubled the goal of BC’s 2008 Light the World campaign, which raised $1.6 billion, according to the release.
Funds raised through the Soaring Higher campaign will enhance teaching across the University by allowing BC to double the number of endowed faculty chairs and fellowships and better support faculty research, according to the release. The campaign will allocate $1.15 billion of funds raised toward academic programs at BC.
The campaign aims to raise over $1 billion to allot to financial aid for low- and middle-income families at BC. The initiative will also work to increase the number of student internships and graduate fellowships and support international studies.
According to the release, BC will award $166 million in undergraduate need-based financial aid during the 2023–24 academic year, a number that the Soaring Higher initiative will work to significantly increase.
Soaring Higher also aims to raise $750 million for student life initiatives such as formative education, campus ministry, service immersion, and intramural sports.
The campaign will provide resources for the renovation of campus facilities, such as residence halls and spaces for student wellness programs. According to the release, Soaring Higher will support Messina College, a two-year residential college for historically underserved students that opens in 2024.
“Boston College’s rise during the past 40 years to its place among the nation’s best universities is one of the greatest success stories in American higher education,” said John Fish, BC Board of Trustees chair and co-chair of the Soaring Higher campaign.
Fish said he hopes the campaign will help BC achieve its goal of becoming the world’s leading Catholic university.
“I take pride in BC’s consistent momentum and am honored to be a part of a campaign that will help Boston College to achieve its goal of being the world’s preeminent Catholic university,” Fish said.
