Trustee Marieke Rothschild P’16 and her husband, Jeff Rothschild P’16, have made a generous gift of $16 million in support of three of the College’s highest priorities: financial aid, the arts, and health and wellness.
An Array of Possibilities
The Rothschilds’ multipurpose gift will have an immediate and long-term impact on the community by more deeply integrating the arts and a healthy, active lifestyle into the student experience.
Five million dollars of the gift will be directed to making Colby affordable to families across the income spectrum. The Rothschilds previously made a $4.5-million gift to financial aid that set the College on a path for creating some of the most generous and straightforward financial aid packages among liberal arts colleges. The additional resources for the Rothschild Family Endowed Financial Aid Fund will extend the College’s capacity to level the playing field for lower- and middle-income families seeking an extraordinary education for their children.
Colby is one of the few institutions in the country that meets 100 percent of demonstrated need without student loans. Families earning up to $65,000 annually can expect a parent or guardian contribution of $0, while families earning up to $150,000 with typical assets can expect annual parent or guardian contributions of $15,000 or less through the Fair Shot Fund.
An additional $5 million of the gift will support the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts, a critical component of the College’s intent to have the finest arts programs associated with a liberal arts college and, in partnership with the city of Waterville, to have the arts be a defining part of the cultural traditions of Central Maine.
Serving as a creative laboratory for the performing arts, the approximately 75,000-square-foot Gordon Center will bring together theater, dance, music, and cinema studies into a highly collaborative and multidisciplinary space for creative expression supported by multimedia and interactive technologies. Students will engage with the center through a number of programs across academic disciplines.
The other $5 million will support a final push to complete Colby’s all-new athletics and recreation center. Slated to open later this year, it will provide a wide range of opportunities for community members to pursue a healthy, active lifestyle—from varsity sports to intramural and club activities to individual health and wellness options.
To further its commitment to a cohesive student experience, the College is also enhancing programs and opportunities for all students to engage with the new athletics and recreation center. These include new exercise studios, mindfulness and meditation rooms, fitness and education programs—ranging from kickboxing and Pilates to nutritional cooking and CPR—to personalized training options for all levels.
A further $1 million portion of the Rothschilds’ gift will be directed to the Colby Fund over several years to ensure that the College has the flexibility to direct resources for its most pressing needs.
–Trustee Marieke Rothschild P’16
When College is Life-Changing
Gifts like the Rothschilds’ to financial aid, the arts, and health and wellness contribute to an extraordinary enhancement of the overall student experience at Colby by ensuring talented students from every background—like Chido, Thomas, and Mario—have access to a rigorous world-class education that also supports their creative passions and personal well-being.