What is an Education Without Limits?
The Education Without Limits campaign has been specifically designed to help our students overcome obstacles and reach their potential through the following:
Student Scholarships
Expand student scholarships and fellowships with partner organizations.
Hardship Funds
Generate hardship funds to ensure that students have the financial resources to complete their education even during unforeseen circumstances.
Naming Opportunities
Create naming opportunities to allow donors to recognize people or organizations with meaningful ties to the college.
Academic Program Enhancements
Expand student scholarships and fellowships with partner organizations
Scholarships
We know that individual access to educational opportunity, leads to economic opportunity. While Suffolk consistently has the lowest tuition rate of any college or university on Long Island, 70% of matriculated students enrolled at SUNY Suffolk are eligible to receive some form of financial assistance. This highlights the crucial role that scholarships play in financially supporting our students to provide a true education without limits. Even with our generous financial aid offers, our full-time students tend to have significant unmet funding needs. Recognizing that the majority of our students struggle to pay for the full cost of a community college education, motivates us to address this as a campaign priority.
Contributing to existing scholarships – and endowing new ones – will make a college education at SUNY Suffolk attainable for more students. In addition, the Suffolk Community College Foundation offers hundreds of scholarships, valued at over $550,000 annually, to new and continuing students.
Here are just a few examples of how these scholarships change students’ lives, introducing them to new options and new possibilities:
“I always knew I wanted to make something of myself,” says Joseph Gonzalez. However, he was acutely aware of the hurdles ahead of him. With very little education, his parents made a living by driving for a cab company. They didn’t have enough combined income to own a family car. He grew up in a basement apartment and tried to help the family by working various jobs, including washing dishes and collecting shopping carts before joining the U.S. Marine Corps. He left the Corps in 2008, just as the great recession settled in across the country. As a result, finding a job that matched his worth was nearly impossible. So, he re-enlisted, but this time in the US Army. After retiring with a combat-related injury, he turned to SUNY Suffolk and was awarded a Get There From Here Scholarship to help support his educational journey. He hopes to become a history professor and the scholarship support that he is receiving is making it possible. “In a world of uncertainty, this is stability. I can go home at night and focus on my future and a better day because of the Get There From Here Scholarship. It’s helping me cross the finish line.” Joseph currently has a 4.0 GPA as he continues to leave any hurdle he encounters in his wake.
Loye is a SUNY Suffolk nursing student with a passion for helping people. “I just love how the human body works…and Suffolk is really preparing me for a career in nursing,” she says. As a recipient of the paid NY Cancer & Blood Specialists Fellowship, she has been able to enhance her learning by working side-by-side with world-class healthcare professionals. Loye pays for her tuition out-of-pocket, and she juggles many responsibilities. As she puts it, “I have a full-time college schedule, a full-time husband, a full-time job, a full-time car payment, and a full-time mortgage.” Because the fellowship included a stipend, Loye was able to shift attention away from her pressing immediate financial obligations in order to concentrate her time on addressing the rigor of her studies.
Hannah hails from Jamesport and has always dreamed about traveling and exploring new cultures. Her Honors scholarship has allowed her to pay her tuition and shift her savings toward travelling to Costa Rica to teach English to children. “I’m excited to go out and see the world,” she says. “My Suffolk experience will enable me to educate people about things that affect both my life and theirs.”
No matter who you are, you can make a great impact for future students.
Hardship Funds
Hardship funds support students financially to ensure they have the opportunity to complete their education, despite a sudden emergency or unforeseen circumstance.
Naming Opportunities
Naming opportunities allow donors to recognize people and/or organizations with meaningful ties to the College. These opportunities can be customized in a variety of ways.
In 2019, Jane Shearer, Associate Dean on the Eastern Campus, and a beloved administrator, unexpectedly passed. To honor her affinity for the profession of nursing, her family decided to share her name in memoriam by establishing the Jane F. Shearer School of Nursing at Suffolk County Community College. Respected community-centered organizations, like Suffolk Credit Union and National Grid, have found value in creating a namesake connection and partnering with Suffolk County Community College.
Individuals, families, alumni and corporations can name scholarships, fellowships, professorships, classrooms, laboratories, athletic facilities, and more through transformational gifts and multi-year pledges paid over a length of time. Spaces, programs and academic positions can be temporarily or permanently named to honor a person, memorialize a loved one, advance a brand or build a legacy by investing in SUNY’s largest and most comprehensive community college.
Academic Program Enhancements
This type of giving provides students with enriched experiences through academic program enhancements. For instance, Riverhead Building Supply, a longtime supporter of the college, has donated materials to upgrade the Ammerman Campus stage and to create sets for theatrical performances. There are countless enhancements that can be customized to reflect the interests of the donor while aligning with one or more of the college’s academic programs.
Your Gift Matters
You can make a difference in the lives of tomorrow's students by giving today.
Faculty & Staff
Anyone
You can also make a gift to the Education Without Limits campaign by check.
Questions? Send an email to foundation@sunysuffolk.edu.
We want to say, "thank you!"
When you make a donation to our students through Education Without Limits, you'll receive one of these gifts as a token of our appreciation.
$25 to $99
Tumbler
$100 to $249
Tote Bag
$250 to $499
Blanket
$500 and up
Outerwear
*Gift is based on total annual contribution toward Education Without Limits annual appeal. Please allow 8 weeks for delivery. We reserve the right to substitute an item for equal or lesser value.