PIP Grants

In consideration of the severe short- and long-term consequences a failure to provide any stipend to PIP waitlistees, as detailed in the letter sent separately, we urge the Dean to consider three possible solutions:



1. $2,000 per student baseline

A grant of $2,000 to students on the PIP waitlist would cover summer rent (which the BU Law website lists on average of $935, though less for those living with roommates) for the period of the work, with a small additional for sundry expenses (groceries, etc.). Rent is the most pressing financial demand students face over the summer. With rent covered, students can reasonably take on an additional part-time job to supplement their income (e.g., a minimum wage job at $8/hour for 10 hours/week would net $800 additional in funds pre-tax over the 10-week period or approximately $650 after tax).

With 41 students waitlisted, it would cost $82,000 to fully fund the program. However, a handful of students will likely make it off the waitlist and some waitlisted students may have found paying jobs. The total number of waitlisted students, therefore, will likely be around 30 or fewer, though we will know for sure by April 23rd. The probable amount of funds to be raised will thus likely need to be around $60,000.

In order to raise the funds, we suggest the following two steps:

2. Contact alumni via email/mail to donate

Have the Alumni Office send out an email to all alumni. The Law Alumni Association is made up of more than 20,000 alumni from all 50 states and 45 countries. A targeted email plea on behalf of the Dean, with concrete numbers regarding the number of students without grants and the public interest jobs they have combined with the notion that without such grants, many will not be able to take public interest jobs or will have to take out additional loans, could possibly garner a positive response.

Email is a much more potent and effective way to reach large swaths of alumni. It would be impossible to call all of them in such a short period, and especially burdensome to students going into finals week. A targeted, concise and effective email, coming from your office has the potential to raise significant sums and avert this crisis.

Below, we discuss one way to increase alumni donations more:

3. Pledge Matching Donations

We understand the financial resources of the school are limited. However, we believe a small outlay of funds has the potential to raise even more from alumni and other donors. If you include in your message a statement that you will match each alumni donation on a 1:1 basis (perhaps up to a certain amount), more alumni are spurred to donate. A $500 donation, enough to fund a quarter of a grant, now has the force of a $1000 donation, enough to fund half, and so on. If the maximum grant amount needed is $60,000, the maximum matching pledge would need only be $30,000 a reasonable sum considering the extraordinary situation. Even a matching 1:1 pledge of up to $15,000 would help raise funds from alumni.