reed magazine logosummer2006
 

A successful $20 million fundraising drive still leaves Reed short of guaranteeing everyapplicant a place regardless of wealth.

By Romel Hernandez
Illustrated by Rachel Perkins '00

     

Growing up in tiny Tonasket, Washington, 170 miles northwest of Spokane, Joe Kliegman ’06 couldn’t wait to go away to college. A top student, he had plenty of choices. But there was only one place he really wanted to go: Reed.

There was just one problem. There was no way his parents, who run a small nonprofit environmental group and work for the local school district, could afford to cover the cost of even one year at a top private college.

Fortunately for Kliegman and many like him (including his sister, Sarah ’02), Reed offers financial aid for worthy students who need it.

 

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Joe Kliegman ’06 will continue to pursue a career in chemistry after obtaining his Reed B.A. with more than $100,000 in financial aid.

   

By the time he graduated in May, he had received over $100,000 in grants from Reed—roughly the cost of his tuition over four years. Combined with additional outside grants, subsidized loans, and work-study jobs, plus an $8,000 annual family contribution, financial aid from Reed covered the cost of college. As he heads into life after Reed — he’s lined up a series of research jobs in his field, structural biochemistry — Kliegman faces a relatively light debt burden. He owes approximately $10,000 on his guaranteed student loans, half the national average for college graduates.

A recipient of the Dr. Wayne and Agnes Kuhn Memorial Scholarship at Reed (part of his financial aid package), Kliegman recently wrote a letter to the Kuhn family expressing his gratitude: “Reed has provided me with opportunities I could only have dreamed about when I left high school. It has transformed the way I think and work, but most importantly, it has changed the way I ask questions.”

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