Impact on Campus
WES has been focused on ensuring access to a Colorado College education since its beginning.
That focus continues today.
In addition to working on projects to make the College a more welcoming place, such as our first women’s dorm, Montgomery Hall, we have an endowment of approximately $9 million, which provides about $250,000 in scholarships annually to about 20 WES Scholars on campus at any time ~ awarded regardless of sex or gender. We also have a smaller endowment that supports about $5,000 annually to award to WES Scholars to support special projects.
A More Robust Scholarship Application Process
In Fall 2024, WES initiated an historic transformation of its scholarship process. We articulated our Timeless Values and, for the first time, asked individuals applying to Colorado College to write a short essay describing how their values align with WES’s. Our Timeless Values:
- Problem-solving resourcefully in order to create opportunities for others
- Elevating others by amplifying the voices of the underrepresented
- Collaboration by sharing strength and connection in one's social community
- History by honoring one’s role in history, especially the history of women, girls and gender-minorities
- Sense of Place by understanding one's position and local impact
We also decided that, in light of rising costs of a Colorado College education, for Scholars entering in Fall 2025 in honor of the 37 women who established WES, we would increase our scholarship award to up to 37% of CC’s tuition, for those whose tuition is not fully covered by Colorado College's own need-based aid. For those whose tuition is fully covered by Colorado College's need-based aid, the scholarship is a $5,000 annual award.
Results from our 2024-2025 Application Process
As part of the application process for first-year students entering in Fall 2025, 86 applicants applied for a WES Scholarship. Because of our essay prompt, all of these students spent time reflecting on WES’s Timeless Values and how they might contribute to furthering Mary G Slocum’s vision for gender equity during their time at Colorado College. The WES Board, working closely with Admissions, offered the WES scholarship to 5 individuals, and 4 have enrolled. Lastly, 26 individuals who were not selected for the scholarship enrolled at CC in Fall 2025.