On Sept. 16, 2024, University President Marlene Tromp spoke at the second ASBSU meeting of the year. In her address to students, Tromp cited Boise State’s achievements and encouraged members of ASBSU to connect with faculty and staff as they continue to impact the student body through legislation.
In her speech, Tromp highlighted that while Boise State’s athletic department is often what attracts donors, Boise State academics are important as well.
“Almost all of [the] donors to this university for a long, long time, gave in athletics. People are excited about athletics — it’s our front porch, it’s how they come and find us,” Tromp said. “We’re walking those people across the bridge from athletics into academics too. They can give to our athletic programs, of course, we want to support our student-athletes … but a lot of those people now for the first time, are giving to student scholarships and to endow faculty support.”
Boise State’s “Unbridled Campaign”, established Oct. 27, 2023, is raising money for student scholarships.
“My number one goal for our philanthropic campaign … is to make sure that no Idaho student has [an] unmet financial need at Boise State, that we cover any gap that a student can’t afford,” Tromp said. “That’s going to mean raising $150 million.”
According to President Tromp, $50 million in student scholarships have already been raised, leaving the university three years to raise $100 million.
In an email to The Arbiter, President Tromp shared that “We’re [Boise State] seeking to bridge the gap in what we are presently able to do by directing some of our generous donor support to student scholarship funds.”
Matthew Ewing, CEO of the Boise State University Foundation broke down the three key aspects of Unbridled and the university’s financial goals for the future.
Ewing said that Unbridled is Boise State’s second comprehensive campaign, meaning it has been in the works or running for eight to ten years.
“What a campaign serves to do is not only raise money for the priorities, that’s a big piece of it, the second component of it is really building the culture and awareness of philanthropy and rallying your supporters to come help,” Ewing said. “Ultimately, [it’s] all about the students, and that’s how our campaign is shaped as well. The first campaign [was] completed in 2012 so it’s been a while since we’ve done a large comprehensive campaign at the university.”
Ewing explained that most campaigns have two phases: a quiet phase and a public phase. Work began on Unbridled in 2014 but “really kicked off” in 2020 when “the university was completing its blueprint for success,” Ewing said.
Jamie Ray, a Boise State sophomore majoring in psychology utilized Boise State’s financial aid services and discussed the stress of loans and academic financial burdens.
“It was quite stressful — always in the back of my mind [I was] thinking, I have to pay off something just for my education,” Ray said. “Me and my family decided we’re just gonna pay it off. All during the summer, I worked two jobs to pay it off, I think it was a $4,000 loan. And then this year, we decided we’re just going to pay off school.”
Scholarships and grants have been helpful in alleviating some of that stress. Ray’s sister now receives the BSU Dean Scholarship and Ray receives the True Blue Scholarship and a FAFSA grant.
“I feel like it impacted my parents more, because prior, my mom didn’t have a job, and she got a job so that she can afford me going to school, and now my sister’s at BSU too,” Ray said. “Now my parents have two people to pay for, but we are very thankful for this year, because my sister got a huge scholarship, and I got a huge grant [through] FAFSA.”
Boise State will continue its fundraising efforts to reach its projected goal of $150 million in student scholarships.
