I’m a relatively recent alumnus of Wheaton, and I just sent the first gift I’ve given to the College online. While I’m very grateful for my Wheaton education, I did not plan to support the school financially anytime soon, because it always seemed to me that Wheaton had enough money and there were other ministries and organizations that could use my donation far more.
But I was persuaded to give because I’m very glad and impressed that Wheaton has started the Building Roads to Intellectual Diversity and Great Education (B.R.I.D.G.E.) program under the Admissions office, which is designed to prepare Christian low-income and minority high school students for college. I was even more impressed to find that Wheaton is not charging the students for the program (which would have put it out of reach for most of those it is trying to serve).
While my gift won’t go very far, I want Wheaton as an institution to be encouraged to continue this sort of investment in making Wheaton a more diverse place and in giving kids who weren’t born into wealthy families the opportunity to receive the high quality Christian liberal arts education that Wheaton provided to me.