In the face of the financial pressures many are feeling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Skidmore College continues its commitment to ensuring all students have access to a Skidmore education, increasing its financial aid spending by 10% in the past year.

Skidmore’s financial aid budget has quadrupled since 2003 to $60 million for the 2020-21 academic year. Virtually all of Skidmore’s financial aid is awarded based on demonstrated financial need, and the College commits to meeting the full need of every admitted student.

This year’s increase in financial aid is part of an upward trend over two decades. The average 2020-21 first-year aid package is $48,000, ranging from $2,000 to $65,000; 51% of students are receiving need-based grants and 55% are receiving some form of financial aid. The average post-college student debt at Skidmore is below the national average.

The financial aid increase is part of Skidmore’s 2020-21 operating budget, which also includes the same 3.5% comprehensive fee increase — which includes tuition — that the College has instituted in recent years. This increase is very similar to increases at many other colleges and universities.

To prepare the campus for the safest and most fulfilling educational experience possible this fall, the College is taking on additional, one-time operating costs that add up to millions of dollars. In addition to COVID-19 testing and facilitating earlier arrivals by many students for required quarantine, the College will incur significant additional costs to provide additional classroom spaces for social distancing and de-densifying the social presence in buildings, retrofit existing rooms for more protection, purchase personal protection equipment, enhance cleaning procedures, and provide transportation for students from off-campus hotel residences to campus. None of these costs will be passed on to students and their families; they will all be absorbed by the College. These measures will help make the campus experience as safe as possible for all Skidmore students, faculty and staff.

As noted in a previous announcement, Skidmore faculty are engaging in summer workshops on online teaching methods, remote instruction, classroom technology, course and instructional design and other topics to help them deliver superb course material through multiple modes. Skidmore will feature some of the best teachers in the nation instructing their students in both remote and in-person modes, and we expect that the academic rigor and content will be equal to what we deliver in a regular semester. We seek to deliver the fullest Skidmore experience possible for all our students while doing all we can to promote the health and safety of our entire community during this challenging time.