West Chester University raises more than $69 million in latest campaign

West Chester University has raised more than $69 million in its latest fundraising campaign targeted for student aid and support — more than $4 million over its goal, with more than three months remaining in the campaign.

“It’s easier to get people to support students than it is to support bricks and mortar on a public university campus,” said Christopher Fiorentino, West Chester’s outgoing president. “That resonated a lot with our alumni base and donors.”

The money will fund scholarships, technology, international travel, and student research, among other student supports, he said.

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The announcement of the total raised came Friday evening at the university’s annual fundraising gala that for the first time was specifically targeted for the school’s “Fund to Finish” program, designed to help students on track to graduate but short of financial resources to complete their education. The gala usually brings in about $80,000, which will count toward the fundraising campaign total. About 270 people were expected to attend the event held on campus at the Sciences and Engineering Center & The Commons.

The fund has helped more than 170 students over the last few years, including a single mother of two who had a 3.6 grade point average in the bachelor of nursing program but encountered financial hardship because of illness, Fiorentino said.

He also cited a student who had nearly completed her nursing degree while working multiple jobs and exhausting all of her loans, and another who worked full time while carrying a full course load.

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“Our hope is that it will impact many more students going forward,” said Fiorentino, who will retire in June after more than 40 years at the university, the last seven and a half as president.

West Chester enrolls more than 17,100 students and is the largest university by far in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

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The $69.5 million fundraising total is the school’s largest amount raised to date, Fiorentino said. The campaign began in 2017 and slowed down during the pandemic — instead of donor dinners, the school held donor Zooms — but then rebounded, Fiorentino said.

The three largest gifts to the campaign include: $3.5 million from Student Services Inc. (SSI), a not-for-profit organization aimed at helping West Chester students; $3 million from James R. Wells, class of 1954, and Richard G. Wells, class of ‘58, for whom the music school is named; and $1 million from Mark Duey, founder, president and CEO of ProMetrics, who is also an adjunct professor at West Chester, in association with his family — that money was targeted toward the building of the sciences and engineering building.