$25M Gift To Boost Scholarships To Elite Part-Time MBA

Kenneth Langone, a Class of 1960 NYU Stern MBA, and his wife Elaine have bequeathed $25 million to increase scholarships for military and veterans in the part-time program that carries his name. Stern photo

If you’re a veteran or active-duty member of the military considering a part-time MBA in the New York area, one elite program is sending the message: Apply here.

Philanthropist Kenneth Langone and his wife Elaine have made a $25 million gift to his namesake, the Langone Part-Time MBA Program at New York University’s Stern School of Business, to fund more scholarships to the program, especially for military veterans and active-duty military personnel.

The promise of greater scholarship opportunities further expands the appeal of a program that has undergone a major transformation in the last year, having launched an online option last fall that brings to four its number of delivery options.

GIFT WILL ‘HELP OTHER BOOTSTRAPPING YOUNG PROFESSIONALS’

Kenneth Langone, whose name has adorned the highly-ranked Stern part-time MBA since he donated $10 million to it in 1999, is co-founder of Home Depot and the founder and CEO of Invemed Associates. A Class of 1960 Stern MBA, Langone also sits on Stern’s Executive Board. The Stern School announced the Langones’ gift today (January 26), noting that it is a “testamentary” gift, which means it will come to Stern after Kenneth Langone’s death as part of his will.

“Ken and his wife Elaine are believers in the American Dream and are deeply dedicated philanthropists, as reflected in their naming of NYU Langone Health and their significant support of a variety of philanthropic causes,” says Raghu Sundaram, NYU Stern’s dean, in a news release from the school. “This is just one more example of their extraordinary generosity. The Langone Part-Time MBA Program has long been a pillar and flagship offering of Stern, and we are enormously grateful to the Langone family for their longstanding commitment to supporting our working professional students and helping Stern sustain this program as one of the nation’s very best.”

“Growing up in a working-class family, I was not only willing to work, but willing to work really hard. I quickly learned the value of a dollar and it changed the course of my life. Now Elaine and I are in a position to pay it forward, to help other bootstrapping young professionals who want to make their mark on the world,” says Langone whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $3.3 billion.

“Ken is a self-made success story, coming from humble beginnings to become one of the most remarkable financiers of our time,” says William R. Berkley, chairman of NYU’s Board of Trustees and chair emeritus of NYU Stern’s Executive Board. “As a scholarship recipient myself, I had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to study with financial support. Ken and Elaine’s gift will help the next generation of leaders make their hopes and dreams a reality.”

FIRST APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR FALL 2023 INTAKE: FEB. 15

The Langone program is a model of flexibility. Since launching its online option last fall, it gives students one of four academic options to pursue their MBA: Weeknights, Saturday, Accelerated Two-Year, or the new Online/Modular Option. In the latter, students may complete their electives through a combination of the following: new one-week intensive in-person modules in New York City at Stern; a range of online elective courses, including some of our most popular electives; and taking existing in-person courses at Stern on weeknights or Saturdays in NYC.

“We specifically designed this option to combine the added convenience and flexibility of some online courses with the ability to easily access NYC for in-person courses,” JP Eggers, Stern’s vice dean of MBA and graduate programs, told Poets&Quants in fall 2021 when the online expansion was announced. “We have intentionally set up the option to be a hybrid of online and in-person because we believe that coming to New York City and taking some of the classes on campus is an integral component of the NYU Stern MBA experience."

The first application deadline for the fall 2023 intake of the Langone program is February 15. Second and third deadlines are April 1 and May 15, respectively. Check the Stern part-time MBA program page for more information.

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