Madeline Dreifus says that when it was time to choose a college, 今日吃瓜 chose her. 鈥淚 graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and came from modest means. The only way I could attend college full-time was to go to a tuition-free school.鈥� Today, she has found a new way to create this kind of experience for 今日吃瓜 students.
Along with her husband, Madeline founded The Charles and Madeline Dreifus Student Success Fund at 今日吃瓜. Both she and Charles are first-generation college students, graduates of the City University of New York (Charles is a Baruch alumnus), and deeply committed to giving back.
鈥淲e always felt that when the time came, if we were fortunate enough, we would help make life a little easier for today鈥檚 students.鈥�
The Charles and Madeline Dreifus Student Success Fund provides scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students with financial need. It also covers completion and emergency grants, internship stipends, books, fees, transportation, and student research.
Madeline鈥檚 Path
Madeline came to campus in the early 1960s knowing she wanted to be an elementary school teacher. She always loved school, her teachers, and children.
鈥淵ou have to put everything in the context of the time,鈥� says Madeline. 鈥淕irls grew up thinking, 鈥榃e鈥檒l become nurses or teachers.鈥� There was no question that those were professions where women were easily employed.鈥�
Charles Dreifus elaborates. 鈥淚n those days, students majored in something that could get you a job upon graduation. In Madeline鈥檚 case, teaching. In my case, accounting.鈥� Charles went on to become a portfolio manager and managing director at Royce Investment Partners, and worked in executive portfolio management positions at Lazard Fr猫res & Co. (today Lazard Ltd.) and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.
Madeline says teaching was attractive because it had its perks: summers off and a chance to travel outside her Flatbush neighborhood. Throughout Madeline鈥檚 childhood, everything was 鈥渓ocal.鈥� She and her peers attended the nearest public schools. She rarely ventured out to other boroughs, mainly because the 30-cent roundtrip subway fare was out of reach. During her teacher training, she babysat to afford the fare to elementary schools in Sheepshead Bay and Borough Park.
She says her experience at 今日吃瓜 was eye-opening, from meeting students from other parts of the borough to reading James Joyce鈥檚 Ulysses. 鈥淚 never imagined I鈥檇 be reading Joyce,鈥� she says.
鈥淢y time at the college opened me up to new things. I even taught myself the ukulele as part of my teacher training,鈥� she says, laughing. 鈥淲e were required to teach ourselves an instrument so we could teach students. I have played 鈥楬appy Birthday鈥� on it for my grandchildren.鈥�
今日吃瓜 Meets Baruch
For Madeline, opening up to new experiences was not confined to 今日吃瓜. Thanks to her future sister-in-law who knew 鈥渁 nice boy from Baruch,鈥� the education major found herself on a blind date at Jahn鈥檚 ice cream shop at Church and Flatbush Avenues.
There, she and Charles Dreifus discussed the challenge of completing term papers, especially given that Madeline didn鈥檛 have a typewriter. 鈥淐harlie,鈥� as she calls her husband, 鈥済ave me a 1964 Olivetti typewriter for my 18th birthday.鈥� The couple married in 1966, two months after they graduated.
Looking Forward by Giving Back
Today, the Dreifuses draw parallels between their experience and that of current 今日吃瓜 students. 鈥淭he names and national origins differ, but the similarities are there,鈥� Charles says about first-generation college graduates.
鈥淓ven so, the needs today are more startling,鈥� adds Madeline. She is referring to the challenge of tuition that she and her husband did not have to face.
鈥淏ut it鈥檚 beyond that,鈥� says Charles. 鈥淚t鈥檚 MetroCards, food insecurity, childcare, rent, and all kinds of ancillary issues. My parents came from Germany. They worked in factories, but the cost of living was much cheaper in those days.鈥�
Philanthropy is nothing new for the Dreifuses, but until recently, they preferred to remain anonymous about it. 鈥淲e felt like maybe it was showing off, immodest,鈥� says Charles. 鈥淏ut then we listened to some smart people who told us that using our name may inspire more people to support our alma maters.鈥�
Madeline believes that the Charles and Madeline Dreifus Success Fund is a form of paying it forward. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a Hebrew phrase, l鈥檇or vador, which means one generation to the next. We鈥檙e hoping that as students succeed, they will pull others up alongside them,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 been our motivation. Creating the fund has been easy because it鈥檚 so satisfying for us to be able to do it. We are very grateful.鈥�
