Colorado College announced Monday a new financial aid fundraiser in response to a multimillion dollar cash gift.

Over $18 million from the estate of William Clement, a CC alumnus, was bequeathed to the college for financial aid initiatives. Clement died Nov. 15, 2022.

The bequest marks the largest single individual cash gift in the school’s history.

“We are immensely grateful to Mr. Clement for this gift and the impact it will have in propelling student opportunities,” said CC President L. Song Richardson in a press release. “It’s exciting to think about future CC students turning their passions into meaningful impact, on campus and beyond, thanks to the generosity of a student who walked this campus before them.”

1942 Colorado College yearbook photograph of alumnus William Clement.

Photo courtesy of Colorado College

In recent years, leading up to his death, Clement had been in contact with the school and other alumni and had alluded to leaving behind something for the school in his estate.

“So, we knew that we would be receiving some sort of cash gift,” said Molly Bodnar, Colorado College’s interim vice president for advancement. “But we had no idea it would be something of this magnitude.”

Previous gifts to the private college include a $10 million financial aid grant by the Walton Family Foundation in 2010, $10 million from the estate of Will Smith, a member of the class of 1974, in 2015, and a $33.5 million future estate commitment from an anonymous donor announced in 2021.

In 2016, an alliance with the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center was announced with assets gifted to the college being valued at more than $175 million.

The Colorado College Board of Trustees has designated $16 million of the Clement gift to the school’s financial endowment aimed at supporting financial aid. Up to $2 million from the estate will go toward a new fund-matching challenge lasting through the end of the year named the “Clement Challenge.”

Donors can send cash gifts toward one of seven priority areas identified on the campus with a matching allocation up to $25,000 from the Clement gift. The areas identified by the campus include financial aid, sustainability, student opportunities, mental health and wellness, antiracism or its parents fund.

“We are just overwhelmed with gratitude for Mr. Clement’s generosity,” Bodnar said. “And, personally, I can say that it’s very moving to know that CC meant so much to him after all this time and a great testament to the transformational impact of a CC education that this gift will continue to benefit students in the years ahead.”

Current programs at the school include its Colorado Pledge, which is aimed at supporting newly admitted students from Colorado, and the Stroud Scholars Program targeted for high-promise, underrepresented high school students in the Pikes Peak area to prepare them for post-secondary education.

Colorado Pledge is funded through donor contributions and offers awards for Colorado families in three income brackets: families with an adjusted gross income of less than $60,000 pay no tuition, room or board fees, while families between $60,000 and $125,000 pay room and board but no tuition, and families between $125,000 and $250,000 pay the same or less than the cost of attendance set at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Tuition at Colorado College for the 2023-24 academic year is $67,458, while housing is calculated at $8,686 annually. When factoring in fees and expenses like course materials and transportation, total estimated costs are $87,128.

Bodnar said that 40% of current students apply for need-based financial assistance while an additional 8% apply for non-need merit-based assistance. This marks a 10% increase in need-based FA and a 10% increase Pell Grant eligibility in recent years.

Clement attended Colorado College in 1942, where he served as the editor-in-chief for the school newspaper and was a member of the debate team, swim team and thespian group. Following graduation, he obtained a  master of arts in physics and a PhD in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley and would go on to work in technical and administrative roles in the electronics industry.

Clement would express his appreciation for Colorado College through decades of donations to the school.

This appreciation was also expressed in one of his columns for the school newspaper on Jan. 10, 1941.

“It is not too presumptuous that out of schools such as this, come the leaders of tomorrow,” he wrote.