Princeton University announced the Talent Initiative as the first focus of Venture Beyond, a series of targeted initiatives building on the success of the Venture Forward campaign and focused on advancing the University’s strategic priorities. The Talent Initiative and subsequent Venture Beyond objectives will focus on strengthening opportunity, innovation and community.
“Scholarships and fellowships make it possible for talented students from every background to realize their potential and go on to lead lives of meaning and impact,” said Kevin J. Heaney, vice president for Advancement. “By raising funding for endowed scholarships and fellowships, the Talent Initiative will help Princeton sustain its best-in-class financial aid program for generations to come.”
The Talent Initiative aims to amplify the University’s historic commitment to financial aid and college affordability. The University’s first endowed scholarships were established before 1800, and alumni and friends have paid this commitment forward since the University’s beginning through additional endowed scholarships and fellowships and Annual Giving.
James Leslie, Class of 1759, Princeton’s earliest known scholarship student, left a bequest of more than 4,500 pounds in 1792, which the Trustees allocated then to “defray the expense of the maintenance and clothing as well as instruction” of students. Today, the legacy of the gift lives on. The Leslie and Richards Charitable Fund Scholarship has grown to nearly $11 million; last year, the annual proceeds from that investment provided full tuition or close to full tuition for eight students.
In 2001, the University made the groundbreaking decision to replace student loans with grants for all undergraduate financial aid packages. Other universities soon followed Princeton’s example. Twenty-five years later, more than 70% of Princeton’s Class of 2030 receive no-loan financial aid — up from 41% in 2001 — and approximately 89% of recent seniors graduated debt free.
“Princeton set the contemporary standard for financial aid,” said Heaney. “The Talent Initiative is an opportunity to lead again as current challenges to higher education funding make it crucial that Princeton have reliable, endowed resources to sustain its historic commitment to affordability.”
The initiative includes a fundraising focus on both undergraduate and graduate financial support. Princeton provides graduate fellowships for all degree-seeking Ph.D. candidates, and many master’s degree candidates for all years of regular program enrollment. Fellowships cover the full costs of tuition and fees and provide a stipend to support living expenses.
Venture Beyond follows the conclusion of Venture Forward, a mission-driven campaign focused on building community and alumni engagement, securing critical philanthropic support for the University’s strategic priorities, and sharing Princeton’s defining principles and their impact on the world. More than 75,000 donors (undergraduate and graduate alumni, corporations and foundations, parents and friends) contributed gifts to Venture Forward, which ended in 2025. Additional Venture Beyond initiatives will be announced in the coming months.
