Suffolk University is hosting its annual Day of Giving to raise money for Suffolk students, university programs and departments March 20. This year, due to the national delay in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process, Suffolk’s Day of Giving will focus on scholarships to help mitigate the financial impact that changes in FAFSA criteria may have on current and incoming students.
“Day of Giving is a 24-hour-period where the entire Suffolk community comes together and gives back to the university in a philanthropic way,” said Jonathan McTague, senior director of Advancement Engagement & Annual Giving at Suffolk and a Suffolk undergraduate and graduate alumni.
McTague added that Suffolk’s Day of Giving is vital to ensuring accessibility for students across campus.
“It’s a day for the entire Suffolk community, so alumni, friends, family, faculty, staff, students, can make a gift back to Suffolk University to really enhance that philanthropic mission to ensure that students have the access and opportunity that they need to be successful here,” said McTague.
The Day of Giving has been an annual event for the past seven years, with each year focusing on a different theme that’s either based on current events, what’s happening at the university, or what initiatives the university is looking at potentially tackling. The event has grown substantially over time, with the first Day of Giving in 2017 raising $8,000 and the most recent in 2023 raising $450,000.
“This year the theme is give, invest and empower. Give to Suffolk, invest in students and empower the next generation,” said McTague. “The biggest way [to donate] is online. Suffolk.edu/giving gives you a menu of options on what scholarship funds you want to support.”
Donors can choose from a diverse array of donation options. Participants are welcome to donate to scholarships for a specific school, such as the College of Arts and Sciences, Sawyer Business School or Suffolk Law, or to departments, centers or programs that they feel passionate about giving to. In-person donations can also be made on March 20, as there will be Day of Giving stands in the lobbies of Sargent, Samia and Stahl. Posters will also be placed around campus with QR codes leading to the donation menu online.
“As a student body, we are driven individuals. You know, 46% of our incoming class last year was first-generation. I’m a first-generation college student as well and so I think what really makes us unique is the word opportunity. We’re individuals that create that opportunity and Suffolk University is something that creates the access to that opportunity,” said McTague. “I think it’s so important for us to recognize, as we’re students and as we’re young alums, that if it wasn’t for an individual stepping up to the plate and giving back to Suffolk, we wouldn’t have been here.”
This year’s Day of Giving is especially important as FAFSA’s delay will affect both incoming and current students, said McTague.
“FAFSA has changed their entire criteria on how they determine financial need … no one has this information yet from FAFSA so it’s really impacting students’ decisions to come to university, whether it’s Suffolk or somewhere else, and for those who are currently here it could be the determining factor to say I can no longer go here because of the new criteria that’s being put in place,” he said.
This year’s Day of Giving aims to help Suffolk raise funds and scholarships for students who will be affected by the changing FAFSA criteria.
McTague expressed his gratitude for all of those coming together to make this year’s Day of Giving a success.
“Thank you to the Suffolk community, thank you to our students, our faculty, staff and our alums. I can’t thank them all enough, it is a team effort. There’s not one person or one team that specifically does this and makes this happen, it’s the contributions of this entire community that make this possible, and again it’s all for our students, our current and future students. A massive thank you to all those that take part in this because it is so so important,” he said.
