Tuition Freedom Day 2010

Did you know more than 400 students celebrated Tuition Freedom Day on campus last Friday, February 26?

What is Tuition Freedom Day? Like it’s cousin, Tax Freedom Day, Tuition Freedom Day is a symbolic date that represents the percentage of Willamette’s operating budget paid by tuition. Tuition pays about two-thirds (61% to be exact) of the operating budget, so we hold Tuition Freedom Day about two-thirds of the way through the academic year.

The point of Tuition Freedom Day is to inform students that charitable gifts, endowment returns and other sources of revenue pay for a part of their Willamette education. Students who participated in the celebration wrote “thank you notes” to contributors and enjoyed one of the more than 500 Bearcat cupcakes that you can see in the photo below:

There is no doubt that the exceptional educational opportunities your student enjoys at Willamette depend upon gifts from alumni, parents and friends of the University. We greatly appreciate the additional investments parents make in their students’ education through their charitable gifts.