Windy City residents will benefit from the newly-created Rauner Scholarship, which supports graduates of Chicago public high schools who qualify for financial aid at Dartmouth, according to Christen O'Connor, scholarship coordinator for the Financial Aid Office. Christian Mgbonyebi '13, Nia Foney '15 and Andrew Li '15 were selected as the first recipients of the award, which is funded by a $1.3 million donation to the College, O'Connor said.
Diana Rauner and Bruce Rauner '78 established the scholarship in mid-October in hopes of benefiting both the College and Chicago public school students, Bruce Rauner said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"My wife and I fund educational opportunities and have for 20 years," he said. "We both love Dartmouth and wanted to support the College."
Bruce Rauner currently serves on the Metropolitan Chicago YMCA board of managers and is the director of the Chicago Public Education fund, The Noble Network of Charter Schools and New Schools for Chicago, according to a College press release. Diana Rauner serves on the board of the Latin School of Chicago and Chapin Hall Center for Children.
The Rauners' Chicago roots and history of advocacy on behalf of the city's schools inspired the fund's eligibility requirements, Bruce Rauner said.
The $1.3 million fund will not supplement the College's aid to the students, according to O'Connor. Instead, this donation has become one of 750 private scholarship funds of various sizes and eligibility requirements that comprise "a significant portion" of the College's financial aid budget and underwrite Dartmouth-sponsored aid packages for students, O'Connor said.
Dartmouth students do not apply for privately endowed scholarships, O'Connor said. Instead, O'Connor matches students with particular funds based on need and eligibility. The three beneficiaries of the Rauner fund did not apply specifically for the scholarship, and instead first heard of the scholarship in an email from the Financial Aid Office notifying them of their selection, Mgbonyebi said.
For students, the only difference between a privately endowed scholarship and financial aid from the general College budget is that recipients of private scholarship money may have the opportunity to meet and thank their benefactors, O'Connor said.
"If you're lucky it can be a mentoring or networking situation," she said.
Although the scholarship like all aid the College dispenses is need-based rather than merit-based, all three awardees said they felt "honored," by the scholarship. As an altruistic alumnus, Bruce Rauner can serve as a role model for scholarship recipients and all Dartmouth undergraduates, Li said.
"It's very empowering in that Rauner graduated with a degree in economics," he said. "He's now reached the point in his career where he's able to help so many people in Chicago."
The award has reaffirmed Foney's desire to use her opportunities at Dartmouth to "give back to the community," she said.
Scholarship recipients may meet the Rauners on Nov. 5 when the couple visits the College, Bruce Rauner said.
"Definitely we'd love to meet them and coach them a little bit," he said. "And any students from the Dartmouth family starting their careers in Chicago, we'd love to help them any way we can," he said.
The College will invest the donation with the rest of its endowment, with a certain percentage of the investment income apportioned to the Financial Aid Office every year as determined by the College Board of Trustees, Connors said.
The new scholarship may also have a positive impact on underprivileged students in Chicago, Foney said.
"There are a lot of students in Chicago who are not fortunate enough to go to college because they can't afford it," she said, "So the fact that the Rauner family is financing this is really great."