Innovative Loans Help International Students at Fletcher

Brad Meslin, F82, FG84, A21P, arrived at The Fletcher School as a 21-year-old Canadian student, ready to immerse himself in a truly global commu­nity. He had already spent a transformational year traveling to some 90 countries, including the geopolitical hotspots of Afghanistan, Iran, and the Soviet Union, gaining firsthand exposure to many of the international security issues he hoped to study at Fletcher. 

Once on campus, he found what he was looking for. “When I interacted with fellow Fletcher students from so many countries, I gained a breadth of perspective that I would not have found elsewhere.” 

Now, through an innovative new loan program inspired by his professional expe­rience in the private equity sector, Meslin aims to ensure that Fletcher continues to attract and support international students for years to come. Recognizing that access is often constrained by cost, especially since international students cannot tap into federal loans available to American students and may have difficulty tapping into conventional loans, he has helped to create The Fletcher School Low-Interest Loan Program for students who are residing outside of the United States. 

The program will combine donor gifts with a matching contribution from the university of up to $2 million, with the goal of reaching a total of $4 million. Once fully funded, the program is projected to award up to 75 loans of $5,000 to $25,000 annually over at least eight years. Importantly, the “leverage” provided by Tufts’ matching funds, combined with student loan repayments, will enable each dollar contributed by donors to provide up to $2.50 of loan value. 

Meslin said “the program offers a compelling ‘multiplier effect’ on gifts while addressing a significant unmet need for international students. It checked a lot of boxes for me.” 

As a young international student who could only afford to attend Fletcher 45 years ago thanks to the scholarship aid he received, the spirit of the effort reflects Meslin’s “pay it forward” philosophy. Meslin also provided the vision and funding to create the Fletcher Educational Enrichment Fund, which provides cash grants to students to extend their learning beyond the classroom by traveling to participate in international conferences and competitions, or to do field research for capstone projects. He also supported the Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr. Professorship in International Security and created the James and Laura Stavridis Endowed Scholarship Fund to honor his friend—the former Fletcher dean, and the dean’s wife. 

Now Meslin and other donors and members of the school’s Board of Advisors invite others to join them in assisting international students to attend Fletcher with the help of this innovative new program. 

For more information about supporting Fletcher, contact Skip Nordhoff at 617-627-2720 or skip.nordhoff@tufts.edu.