Yardi Systems Funds Stony Brook Scholarships for 100 First-Generation Students

California-based Yardi Systems announced a sweeping expansion of its scholarship partnership with Stony Brook University on April 6, committing to fund 100 first-generation students over four years through the newly established Yardi Expanded Cohort Scholars Program. The investment scales up what had been a modest foothold at Stony Brook, where Yardi previously supported just eight College of Business students across a four-year period, into one of the most structured scholar-support programs on the Suffolk County campus.

The inaugural cohort of 25 College of Business students will arrive in Fall 2026. Each scholar will be eligible for a renewable annual scholarship of up to $10,000, designed to offset tuition and living costs that frequently push first-generation students, those whose parents never earned a four-year college degree, out of school before graduation.

The financial award is only part of the package. First-year scholars will live together in a shared residential community on campus, giving students who may lack family roadmaps for college life a built-in peer network from the start. A dedicated program coordinator will manage day-to-day operations and serve as the direct link between Stony Brook and Yardi. Scholars will also move through the Yardi Business Futures Leadership Academy, a structured programming track combining workshops, field experiences, and mentorship opportunities designed to carry them from orientation to degree completion to employment.

"I am so grateful for Yardi Systems' visionary investment in our first-generation students," said Stony Brook President Andrea Goldsmith. "This transformative program will reduce the financial barriers for their education while also providing unique experiences for them inside and outside the classroom that build a strong foundation for their future personal and professional success."

Anant Yardi, chairman and founder of Yardi Systems, kept the stated goal precise: "We believe in the transformative power of education. We are excited to expand our partnership with Stony Brook University's College of Business and establish a Yardi Scholars Cohort Program here for first generation students. We hope that this will allow these scholars to attend, persist, and graduate."

College of Business Dean Haresh Gurnani pointed to the program's regional reach. "These investments in our students allow us to provide an accessible business education that prepares and equips the future business leaders of New York and beyond while increasing our social impact," Gurnani said.

Stony Brook joins a small group of institutions selected for Yardi's more intensive cohort model. Nationally, the company partners with 29 universities across the United States and Canada and currently supports more than 300 Yardi Scholars across North America. The cohort programs, which include sites at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara, pair students with direct connections to Yardi and affiliated employers for internships and mentorship, giving scholars a job-market advantage tied directly to their degree path.

Whether the combination of stipends, a dedicated coordinator, shared housing, and employer pipelines produces measurable gains in retention and post-graduation placement for Stony Brook's first-generation students will be the central question as the program grows toward its 100-student target by year four.