Maintaining Colby's high educational standards is expensive, and the College cannot rely on tuition alone to fund its budget. As a residential college with a 10 to one student-faculty ratio, Colby's style of education is labor intensive. Sustaining this extraordinary quality depends on having faculty members with exceptional credentials who are compensated competitively. The quality of the Colby experience is also reliant on enrolling talented students regardless of their ability to pay for all of the costs of their education. Colby's infrastructure, including buildings, technology, and other resources, must provide the facilities and tools necessary for students to acquire the skills they need to succeed. As new realms of knowledge, new fields of study, and new ways of learning create new opportunities for students, Colby must acknowledge these changes and extend to students the full spectrum of new possibilities.

Four years at Colby require a considerable investment, but even students who pay the full comprehensive fee pay significantly less that the actual per-student cost. The difference between what a student and his or her family pay and the true cost of a Colby education is made up by endowment support and charitable contributions from alumni, parents, friends, corporations, and foundations.

Through the generosity of those who care about Colby, Reaching the World: A Campaign for Colby will bolster Colby's financial foundation by enhancing its two most vital sources of charitable gifts: those made to the endowment and those made to support the College's current operations.