Penn alum gives $18 million to support first-generation college students

A University of Pennsylvania alumnus and his wife gave Penn an $18 million gift to support first-generation college students and other students from “modest” or “limited-income” families, the school announced Wednesday.

The gift came from Scott Shleifer, a 1999 Wharton alumnus and a partner at the investment firm Tiger Global Management and a cofounder of its venture capital business, and his wife, Elena.

The money will support the Penn First Plus Program, established by Penn President Amy Gutmann and other university leaders in 2018 to provide financial, academic, and program supports with a gathering space in College Hall that now will be named after the Shleifer family. The program includes a four-week summer program for incoming freshmen to help prepare them for academic and college life. The gift also will be used for financial aid.

“As a scholarship recipient myself, I know how significantly student aid changes lives,” Gutmann said in a statement. “I also know that tuition support alone is often not enough. This gift will enable our university to foster an ever more welcoming and inclusive learning environment to prepare all Penn students for successful lives.”

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Nearly 20% of Penn students get help from the program and 1 in 7 freshmen this year are first-generation college students, the school said. Tuition, fees and room and board exceed $79,000 this year, but half of Penn’s nearly 10,000 undergraduates receive financial aid.

The Shleifer gift is the largest the fund has received and Penn’s largest gift for undergraduate student support overall, a university spokesperson said. It includes a challenge fund that will offer a match to other donors.

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“Attending Penn had an enormously positive impact on my life. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities this great university opened up to me, and it is my privilege to help provide the same opportunities to other students,” Shleifer said in a statement. “Elena and I hope this gift enables many more bright young minds to benefit from a Penn education so they can create the best lives for themselves and their families for generations to come.”