Areas of Support
Holyoke Community College proudly offers a superior education at the lowest tuition of any public college or university in the Commonwealth. HCC students benefit from state-of-the-art facilities, innovative instruction, and have access to the resources and technology they need to successfully transfer to a competitive college or university or enter the workforce.
State funding covers only 35 percent of the cost of an HCC education. Without the support of donors like you, HCC would be unable to provide students with the education and opportunities they deserve. When you give to HCC's Annual Fund, you help bridge the gap between state support and the actual cost of running the college.
Gifts to the Annual Fund can be directed to the area you are most passionate about.
- Where the Need is Greatest: Making an unrestricted gift to HCC allows us the flexibility to respond to the greatest needs of our students.
- Academic Excellence and Innovation Fund: Teaching and learning is at the core of the HCC experience, and your gift ensures that it is exceptional. By supporting the Academic Excellence and Innovation Fund, you empower our students to thrive with outstanding faculty, state-of-the-art technology, and student-centric facilities, elevating their educational experience to unparalleled heights and setting a new benchmark among colleges in the region.
- The Scholarship Fund: 86 percent of our full time first year degree seeking students receive some form of financial assistance. Your gift to the scholarship fund helps remove barriers and ensures everyone has access to an HCC education.
- The President's Student Emergency Fund: The President's Student Emergency Fund assists students who encounter an unforeseen financial emergency that would prevent them from continuing their education. The fund is intended to assist students so that they may continue their studies and successfully complete their coursework. Dollars are intended for unexpected emergency expenses.
- Equipment & Technology Fund: This fund helps provide and maintain laboratory equipment, computers, software, and mediated classrooms.
Other areas of support
Thrive Center & Food Pantry: Located in the Frost Building on our campus, HCC's Thrive Center & Food Pantry provides basic foods to students in need. Students are free to choose the foods they wish according to their dietary needs. The Thrive Center also provides students with credit repair; financial coaching; referrals to the HCC Career Closet, housing, legal aid, and free tax prep; and helps with MassHealth applications.
The PODEMOS Scholarship provides financial support to Latinx students attending or planning to attend Holyoke Community College. Awards from this scholarship will cover up to $2,500 per student. Student recipients will also be connected to mentoring, workshops, and peer/alumni support to further welcome them to the HCC community and support their ongoing success.
Support the Future of HCC
Your gift can ensure the success of future generations of HCC students. Contact our Institutional Advancement staff if you are interested in establishing any of the following giving opportunities.
- ENDOW A SCHOLARSHIP: Scholarships can change a life forever, and are an extraordinarily meaningful way to honor or remember a loved one. The HCC Foundation administers more than 70 endowed scholarships. HCC Foundation staff work closely with donors to establish scholarship guidelines that most closely match the interests of the donor and benefit the many deserving students who attend the College.
- ESTABLISH A FACULTY CHAIR: The core of the College is the excellence of its faculty. The establishment of a faculty chair within any of the divisions can be made in honor of a loved one or to recognize the achievements of current faculty. Faculty chairs can either enhance a specific program by bringing in outside experts who can add valuable perspectives to curricula or provide opportunities for research and study for current faculty.
- SUPPORT FUTURE BUILDING NEEDS: Gifts can be made to support new facilities such as equipping a classroom with state-of-the-art technology, or modernizing an outdated area of the campus. Naming opportunities are available for gifts that enhance HCC facilities.
