Brown International Scholarship Fund

In May 2007, former Brown President Vartan Gregorian hosted a luncheon arranged by the BRIO Scholarship Foundation at the Carnegie Corporation in New York. Many recent Brown alumni attended, and we raised over $30,000 from the event.

The Brio Scholarship Reception on March 22nd 2006 in New York City raised over $10,000 towards our cause and featured a fabulous speech by Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Iniative.

We are eager to host similar events worldwide in the future. For further information, please contact us at briofund@brown.edu .

"Our financial aid goals will be fulfilled when we are meeting the demonstrated need of every undergraduate, whether freshman or senior, transfer or RUE, from the United States or from abroad. When we have lessened for all students the challenges that financial circumstances can present, then we will be better positioned to assemble the most talented, most diverse, most remarkable group of young scholars anywhere."
- Ruth J. Simmons

International students at Brown University represent over forty-eight countries and constitute roughly 9% of the undergraduate student body. As members of the Brown international community we have all gained from the varied cultural experience it offers. However it is no secret that the international student body lacks significant economic diversity.

Less than 30% of international students at Brown receive financial aid from the University whereas American students benefit from a completely need blind admission policy.

The Brown International Scholarship Fund was created 10 years ago by international students to address this problem. Today it remains entirely student run and has already established two full scholarships. Our goal is to continue to raise money towards international student scholarships until Brown reverts to a need-blind financial aid policy towards international students. In addition, we are committed to spreading awareness about BRIO scholarships in international communities to attract talented students without sufficient financial means to apply to Brown.

A fully endowed four-year scholarship is $500,000. Thanks to the recent generosity of alumni and parents we have raised $460,000 towards a third scholarship. We hope to complete this scholarship and begin raising funds for a fourth during this academic year.

In addition to our efforts on campus, our new global outreach program will soon be hosting receptions in specific cities. We recently hosted the first of these events in New York City in March 2006, see our Archive for more information.