To David and Sandra Smith, “Educating children is the most important thing we can do as a society.” It is for this reason—and in recognition of the amazing instructors they had as Wayne State University students—that the Smiths decided to include the university in their estate plan.

Their gift funds a scholarship program that benefits honors students from across the university, with an emphasis on those in the College of Education. As David, a former English and journalism teacher, says, “Education needs all the people it can get right now, and we want to encourage that as much as possible.”

Another goal of the gift is to help eliminate financial barriers for future educators. When the Smiths earned their bachelor’s degrees from Wayne State, tuition was $104 a term. Nowadays, a single textbook can cost that much.

“We want aspiring educators to not have financial handicaps preventing them from getting into the profession,” says David, who returned to Wayne State to earn his master’s in mass communications.

Sandra encourages others to think of the university when planning for the future, noting that the process was simple. “The university provided us with options and we picked the plan that worked for us,” says David.

“Future generations will go on learning and giving back to the community because we were able to help,” the Smiths said. “That makes us feel good about what we’re leaving behind.”

Help Future Generations Receive a World-Class Education

To learn more about the gift planning process, please contact the Office of Planned Giving at (313) 577-6481 or PlannedGifts@wayne.edu.