Want to cover tuition for yourself and your family’s future generations with $100? Too bad you weren’t born in the 1840s.
Sold from 1853 to 1867, perpetual scholarships allowed one male in each generation of a family who bought the scholarship to attend Northwestern for free. Women could receive the scholarship once the university began accepting women in 1869. To receive free tuition, descendants had to attend the College of Arts and Sciences, now Weinberg.
“It’s been a wonderful part of our lives,” said Joan LeBuhn whose great-great-grandfather, Richard C. Rounsavell, purchased the scholarship in 1866.
The scholarship allowed nine descendants of their family to attend NU.
“My great-great-grandfather was very pleased to support Northwestern when it started,” LeBuhn said. “He was a very interesting man. He was a well-known cooper in the Chicago area and he actually lived in the Palmer House.”
As a result of Rounsavell’s $100 purchase, LeBuhn graduated from NU and worked in the School of Education and Social Policy for 20 years. Her daughter, Nancy Pickhardt, also attended NU on the scholarship.
“A part of me has always felt guilty, but I think that if my great-great-great-grandfather hadn’t been a part of Northwestern, it wouldn’t be what it is today, ” Pickhardt said.
About 341 scholarships were sold, raising about $75,000 for the construction of the university’s first buildings, according to a 2001 article in Northwestern Magazine, an alumni publication. Effective scholarships dwindled through 150 years as new stipulations required the owners to bequeath the scholarships to a direct descendant.
But the few active scholarships continue to allow students to attend NU for free.
“Northwestern has been very understanding in honoring the scholarship,” LeBuhn said.
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, colleges are being pressured to end legacies, or preferences for the descendants of alumni, in admissions. Last month Texas A&M University at College Station became the first public university to discontinue a legacy policy.
NU treats legacies — that is, those without a guaranteed, historical ticket in — as just one of many factors on a student’s application.
“Students whose older siblings attended here or who have one or both parents who attended probably understand NU better than applicants with no connections; thus, they might write a more persuasive application,” Rebecca Dixon, associate provost for university enrollment, wrote in an e-mail.
“However, the academic strength of applicants always is more important than any familial connection,” she added. “Also, they may be very smart; after all, they have NU genes.”
As the perpetual scholarship becomes more rare and valuable, descendants become more anxious to know who will receive the scholarship.
LeBuhn said she plans to pass the scholarship on to her son who lives in Chicago and has four children.
Meanwhile, Pickhardt said the scholarship gave her more than a free education.
“Now that I’m a parent, I have sense of the continuity of life,” Pickhardt said. “I realize how deeply indebted I am to my great-great-great-grandfather because he has put education in the forefront of our family’s values. And it’s a great value to have.”
