This is our Scarlet Promise: to empower talented students through access to a Rutgers education and offer them irreplaceable opportunities to better the world.
The Scarlet Promise Initiative provides financial and academic support so students can afford a Rutgers education, effectively manage academic responsibilities, complete their degrees without incurring unmanageable debt, and pivot from graduation to purposeful career paths.
Talent is boundless. It exists in every zip code and income bracket, and it is limited only by scarcity of resources, opportunities, and imagination. When it comes to students, excellence can be found everywhere. Finding it and letting it flourish drives our nation and our university forward.
Too often, high-achieving applicants are priced out of the colleges and universities they’re qualified to attend. Those students who do enroll at competitive institutions often face financial challenges that jeopardize their well-being, delay graduation, and burden them with significant student debt.
Rutgers’ Scarlet Promise Initiative meets these challenges head-on.
This comprehensive effort uplifts students during and beyond their time at Rutgers by harnessing an array of programs including financial aid, research and internship stipends, emergency financial support, food security resources, and more.
Together, these programs will help students apply to, afford, and excel at Rutgers. They will elevate the talent of Rutgers students from throughout New Jersey and around the world.
Support the Scarlet Promise Initiative today or learn more about the many programs comprising the Scarlet Promise Initiative using the links below.
Learn more about the many programs comprising the Scarlet Promise Initiative.
The Scarlet Promise Current Use and Endowment Funds provide need-based aid to Rutgers students as part of their financial aid packages and, in some cases, to relieve short-term, temporary financial hardship.
Financial aid at Rutgers offers talented students a prestigious education without a lifetime of debt.
Sometimes, even the most talented students need a helping hand. Rutgers is committed to providing the resources necessary to support students as they navigate their academic responsibilities.
Research opportunities provide undergraduate and graduate students with hands-on learning deep in laboratories or out in the field, alongside some of the world’s most talented minds in the quest for new knowledge and discoveries.
No student should miss out on a degree because of hardships brought about by life’s emergencies. Emergency funds help our students navigate life’s ups and downs while completing their degrees.
A significant number of Rutgers students across all degree levels experience food insecurity. Rutgers is investing in food resource centers to help students focus on their academic goals rather than financial obstacles.
Experiential learning is a critical component of a Rutgers education and a path toward a fulfilling career. Internships and other experiential learning opportunities empower students to deploy their learning for real-world impact while gaining critical skills.
We need you. Keeping our Scarlet Promise requires participation from the full spectrum of the global Rutgers community—all of us. Working as one, we can transcend the forces that historically have prevented many students from realizing their remarkable potential.
Our combined contributions will support students holistically—from recruitment through on-time graduation and in their early careers. They will help provide food security, academic opportunities, financial aid, and much more.
The nation’s best universities offer their education to talented students regardless of their financial means or social connections. This is a hallmark of leadership. This is what excellence looks like.
Join us in empowering excellence.
Learn more and get involved: Contact eadie.wilson-beeler@rutgersfoundation.org
To date, more than 13,900 donors have joined Rutgers in empowering excellence via the Scarlet Promise Initiative. On October 1, 2023, we completed our $50 million fundraising challenge, which provides a critical base from which to realize the full potential of this effort.
Comprising more than 1,300 programs and funds, including the Scarlet Promise Current Use Fund and the Scarlet Promise Endowment, the initiative makes a difference for tens of thousands of students.
Read some of those students’ stories—and learn more about the initiative’s remarkable influence—in the latest Scarlet Promise Initiative Milestone Report.
The Scarlet Promise Initiative empowers talented students and offers them irreplaceable opportunities to better the world.