Two weeks prior to the close of the multi-year Build a Boundless Future: Campaign for University of Detroit Mercy, the fund-raising drive has surpassed $111 million.
The program started in 2012 after Antione Garibaldi became the Catholic school’s first lay president with a goal of collecting $100 million by 2020.
“Alumni of this 142-year old Jesuit- and Mercy-sponsored university were passionate about their value-added education and experiences, and gave me strong indications that they wanted to give back now so current and future students could have those same opportunities,” Garibaldi says.
Since it started, the campaign has received gifts of $1 million or more from 31 donors. Additionally, the university’s endowment increased 165% since 2011 and now exceeds $70 million.
As a result, Detroit Mercy has been able to institute several changes to reinvigorate the university’s three campuses, increase enrollment, and help achieve national recognition.
Between 2014-2018, the university had four consecutive years of growth in new student enrollment. In November 2017, U-D Mercy reset undergraduate tuition from $41,000 to $28,000 to attract high-quality students and give itself a competitive advantage over other institutions.
Earlier this year, Detroit Mercy reset tuition for its Master of Business Administration and Master of Community Development programs, as well as graduate programs in architecture, nursing, and engineering.
National recognition came in the form of a top 200 U.S. News & World Report ranking, a top 20 percent nod in The Wall Street Journal, and a number-one ranking on the Certified Public Accounting exam by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.
