Addition of Estate Gift Helps More Students
When Loretta Seppanen ‘68 was a student at the University of Minnesota Morris, she worked, attended lectures, plays, concerts, international film showings, and participated in various clubs, in addition to attending class and studying.
Because of this, she says she learned how to effectively manage time between her coursework, extracurricular activities and a work-study job. She thinks back to the experience almost as a gift.
“I still appreciate having developed the habit of learning in all of these venues,” says Seppanen.
In appreciation of what that “gift” meant to her, she wanted to give back to her alma mater.
“For me, UMN Morris is one of the three organizations I chose for planned giving because of the benefits I gained from my four years [there],” says Seppanen. “I also chose [to give to] UMN Morris because I appreciate the unique work that UMN Morris is engaged in today, offering a liberal arts education that can include an indigenous focus for a significant number of Native American students.”
Seppanen and her husband opted to support UMN Morris through planned giving to the Morris Scholarship Fund. She recalls receiving a scholarship each year during her time at UMN Morris and felt that was an area where she could give support at more of a significant level.
“Planned giving means we can keep giving to a diverse set of organizations annually and use our wills to designate larger gifts, after our deaths, to the select organizations that hold special significance to each of us—like UMN Morris,” she says.
Seppanen knows that the cost of college, even when adjusted for inflation, is much higher today than it was more than 50 years ago, and that scholarships may only help with a small portion of a student’s total cost of college. But she hopes that this type of funding gives today’s students the opportunity to sample more of the unique UMN Morris experiences than they would be able to without the scholarship funding.
Discover how you can help support UMN Morris and generations of students to come through planned giving. Contact Susan Schmidgall, CDO, at 320-589-6160 or sschmidg@morris.umn.edu to learn more.
Information contained herein was accurate at the time of posting. The information on this website is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor. Figures cited in any examples are for illustrative purposes only. References to tax rates include federal taxes only and are subject to change. State law may further impact your individual results. California residents: Annuities are subject to regulation by the State of California. Payments under such agreements, however, are not protected or otherwise guaranteed by any government agency or the California Life and Health Insurance Guarantee Association. Oklahoma residents: A charitable gift annuity is not regulated by the Oklahoma Insurance Department and is not protected by a guaranty association affiliated with the Oklahoma Insurance Department. South Dakota residents: Charitable gift annuities are not regulated by and are not under the jurisdiction of the South Dakota Division of Insurance.