$80. 80 days. 80 years.
Those are the numbers Staples Tuition Grants want you to know.
And act on.
Since its founding in 1943 — 80 years ago — the non-profit has helped thousands of graduates with financial need achieve their dreams of higher education.
There was one grant that first wartime year: $100. David Hughes leveraged the important aid to earn a bachelor’s degree from Harvard. He added a master’s, Ph.D. — and stayed on, as a professor of music.
David Hughes’ writeup in the 1943 Staples yearbook.
Last year, STG provided 4,000 times that amount — $400,000 — to 108 graduating seniors, and Staples alums already in college. Grants ranged from $7,500 to $1,500.
The money did not fall from the sky. It came from nearly 700 individuals, families and organizations. They contributed to over 80 named awards, and to Staples Tuition Grants’ general fund.
Now there’s a new one: the 80th Anniversary Community Award.
It’s accepting donations for just 80 days — from last Thursday through April 30. Contributions can be made in increments of $80: $80, $160, $320, $800, $8,000 — whatever feels right.
Donations can honor a teacher, coach, administrator, student, loved one, friend — or, say, the entire graduating class of 2023. “In honor” donations will be recognized at this year’s award ceremony.
The $100 awarded to David Hughes in 1943 went a long way. Harvard’s undergraduate tuition in the ’40s was about $400.
This year, tuition alone is $52,569. Add room, board, other fees and more, and you’re talking real money.
In-state tuition at the University of Connecticut is $18,524 — without room, board and other expenses.
Many Westporters can afford the full boat. Many more can’t.
Staples Tuition Grants honorees gathered in 2021. (Photo/Pamela Einarsen)
But — whether you have children of college age or not; whether you graduated from Staples, or college, or not — think in terms of $80 increments.
Staples Tuition Grants hopes many Westporters, and former residents, do.
If so, then in 80 days from now, a number of worthy graduates will be a bit closer to a college education.
It’s something that could serve them well, for their next 80 years.
To donate to the 80th Anniversary Community Award, click here. For the Staples Tuition Grants home page, click here. To read the backgrounds and biographies of the 80-plus named awards, click here.
After the 2018 Staples Tuition Grants ceremony, pediatrician Dr. Albert Beasley and his wife (3rd and 4th from left) posed with 4 former patients (from left): Nicole Greenberg Donovan, Dan Woog, Dan Donovan and Lynn Untermeyer Miller. Dr. Beasley has since died, but his named award lives on. (Photo/Paddy Donovan)