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While Angela Filo never met the donor of her Stanford scholarship, one detail stood out to her: It was designated for transfer students like her. 

Now, as a member of the Board of Trustees, she helps guide the university in making Stanford affordable to even more students. She and her husband, David, established the Fast Forward Match, a matching fund that helps more people endow a scholarship.

“The giving that we do at Stanford, especially around financial aid, is tied to the hope that we can have more educational equity, and that there can be broader access for students who want to come here,” she says.

Juan Camara was working two jobs and attending community college when he got into Stanford. Financial aid made it possible to say yes.

“Being a first-generation immigrant from Mexico, being raised by a single mother and working class, having served in the military—not choosing Stanford would’ve been a disservice to those who came before me,” he says.

Camara hopes to pursue a career in law or government—and eventually to support other students.

Camara has benefited from the Allyne Memorial Scholarship, Alex Chen and Kate Kerkering Undergraduate Scholarship, and the Victoria and James Maroulis Undergraduate Scholarship funds.

As a Stanford frosh, Fred Wang was working two jobs, saving his summer earnings, and taking on loans. It wasn’t until he received a full scholarship as a sophomore that Wang felt the weight of his financial burden lift.

Two decades later, Wang and his wife, Tracy, established a scholarship fund to help other students. Endowed scholarships let Stanford continue to meet the full demonstrated need of U.S. students.

Wang says meeting the students who benefit from his scholarship, and offering advice from his career as a venture capitalist, has been especially rewarding.  “It’s about ensuring everyone has a chance to succeed, regardless of their means.”

A member of the Navajo and Winnebago Nations, Larissa Scott saw Navajo reservation community members struggle to get access to vaccines and food during the COVID-19 pandemic. So she started a donation fund, and began delivering necessities throughout the community.

Today she’s committed to improving public health conditions on the reservation, and plans to attend medical school after Stanford, focusing on rural health care.

Scott has benefited from the Sarah Hotchkis Ketterer Undergraduate Scholarship and the Class of 1966 Undergraduate Scholarship funds.