Entertainment mogul David Geffen has donated $100 million to create a private school on the UCLA campus for grades 6 through 12, the university announced today.
Enrollment at the Geffen Academy at UCLA will be split equally between children from the Los Angeles community and children of UCLA faculty and staff.
Geffen’s grant will also help fund a financial aid program for low- and middle-income families.
In addition, part of the donation establishes a $30 million endowment, $5 million of which will allow the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies to link the academy with UCLA’s existing network of primary and secondary partner schools.
“I’m happy to support UCLA in the creation of this unique educational opportunity for Los Angeles youth and the faculty, staff and students of the university,” Geffen said.
“We are humbled by David’s generosity and inspired by his visionary philanthropy,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said. “The Geffen Academy at UCLA will enhance our ability to deliver on the mission that is at the core of our DNA — research that informs teaching, and service to our community.”
Block noted that the Geffen Academy will help UCLA recruit and retain top faculty, whose career decisions are often influenced by the availability of college preparatory education for their children.
Geffen’s latest gift brings his total philanthropic support to UCLA to more than $400 million. He is the largest individual donor to UCLA.
In 2012, he established a $100 million scholarship fund to fully cover the cost of education for the best students attending the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
The medical school also received an unrestricted gift of $200 million from Geffen in 2002; at the time, it was the largest single gift to a U.S. medical school. Geffen also has contributed to theater and arts programs at UCLA.
The university anticipates that the Geffen Academy will be open for the 2017-18 school year, with approximately 125 students enrolled in the sixth and ninth grades, eventually growing to more than 600 students in grades 6 through 12.
To house the academy, UCLA plans to renovate the campus’s Kinross Building. Later, as enrollment grows, the university plans to construct an adjacent building.
