Nelnet executive David Byrnes, a 1972 Monmouth College graduate, has made a $5.5 million commitment to his alma mater.

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MONMOUTH, Ill.—Monmouth College has received a $5.5 million gift focused primarily on the construction of a new academic complex that will bring together both the sciences and business in a novel teaching and learning facility, President Mauri Ditzler announced today.

David J. Byrnes, a 1972 MC graduate, told the board of trustees at a recent planning session that he and his wife, Elizabeth, decided to make the gift in gratitude for the college’s influence on his own successful career and in expectation that the new facility will help future generations of students succeed in their careers.

A biology major who never took a business course at Monmouth, but went on to found a successful automated tuition management company for private colleges and private and parochial K-12 schools, Byrnes said he is excited about the prospect of the sciences and business sharing the same facility on the Monmouth campus. “Business is increasingly relying on science and technology to maintain profitability, while at the same time, the sciences must develop good business models in order to be able to secure private funding,” he explained. “Bringing these two traditionally separate disciplines together will encourage new ways of looking at the world’s problems and developing creative solutions.”

Byrnes, 56, serves as vice chair of the college’s board of trustees and is CEO of Nelnet Business Solutions and Nelnet Enrollment Solutions, both divisions of Nelnet, Inc., an education planning and finance company based in Lincoln, Neb. In 2005, Nelnet acquired FACTS Management, a company that Byrnes co-founded in 1986. FACTS is the nation’s largest provider of tuition payment plans for both the private K-12 and post-secondary markets and also provides financial needs analysis, enrollment management and fund raising solutions.

“As a professional who works daily with colleges like Monmouth, David has an appreciation for the important work that liberal arts colleges do,” said President Mauri Ditzler. “This gift demonstrates not only great generosity, but also great vision for what an innovative building like this can mean for Monmouth.”

Although Byrnes and his wife previously provided the naming gift for the educational wing of the Huff Athletic Center and endowed two scholarships, he admits he initially felt uncomfortable making a public announcement of their recent gift. “The decision to make this gift was a very personal one,” he noted. “I was the first person in my family to attend college and my years at Monmouth were the seminal period in my life. As a Christian family, we view the gift as a way of also honoring God for His many blessings.”

Byrnes explained, however, that the examples set earlier by such veteran trustees as Walter Huff, David Bowers (who provided the naming gift for Bowers Hall), Safford Peacock (whose gift created Peacock Athletic Park), Maxine Trotter (donor of a fitness center and computer lab) and others inspired him to come forward. “I hope the gift will help draw attention to this important project and provide momentum,” he explained.

Growing up the oldest of five siblings in Springfield, Mass., Byrnes said his childhood was often difficult. When Monmouth College offered him the opportunity to come to the Midwest, enroll in a pre-med program and play sports, he jumped at the chance. But it wasn’t easy. To help meet expenses, he began working long hours performing analytical work in the laboratory of Monmouth’s Wells Pet Food plant, not only during the academic year but in the summer months as well. When family financial circumstances forced him to return to Massachusetts during his sophomore year, biology professor Milton Bowman made special arrangements for Byrnes to continue his studies and eventually return to Monmouth College.

“Monmouth was very good to me,” Byrnes said. “Without the help of people like Milt Bowman, I wouldn’t have been able to get my degree.” In memory of Bowman, Byrnes in 2002 established a scholarship for financially-needy MC biology students. “One of Monmouth’s greatest attributes is the strong sense of family,” he said. “Giving back to the college is not something you feel obligated to do. It’s something you really want to do.”

The Byrnes’ gift is the second largest in the college’s history. In 2001, alumnus Walter Huff provided a $10 million naming gift for MC’s new athletic center, in memory of his late wife, with whom he had made an earlier gift of $5 million in 1983.

After graduating from Monmouth, Byrnes went on to earn a master’s degree in botany and worked for an environmental consulting company and an electric power company before becoming a private consultant. A conversation with a friend 20 years ago about the difficulty private schools were having collecting tuition led to the founding—in his basement—of FACTS Management, which later pioneered the use of electronic funds transfer for budgeted tuition payments and helped create a new paradigm for best business practices in private and parochial schools.

Having demonstrated a capacity to “think outside the box,” Byrnes is not at a loss for innovative ideas about how the new academic complex might be used. “I can envision learning centers being established outside the classrooms in which science and business students and faculty could interact regularly and exchange ideas,” he said. “I’d also like to see alumni who are successful scientists or CEOs come back to campus and establish residencies for three or four weeks to truly engage students on the issues of the day.”

Beyond the academic benefits the complex would provide, Byrnes views the concept itself as being important to the kind of strategies small liberal arts colleges must adopt to remain competitive in the education marketplace. “With the emergence of online education and other new forms of competition, colleges like Monmouth will be increasingly challenged to justify their price tags,” he explained. “A building like this and the bringing together of science and business in a purposeful way represents a great value proposition. The experience students will receive here will be truly special. It will open new doors for them.”

Monmouth College earlier announced a $1 million gift from the Mellinger Educational Foundation, which is currently being employed to develop the concept for the 140,000-square-foot facility. Estimated to cost in excess of $40 million, the building is being designed by the international design firm Burt Hill, which has won numerous awards for its innovative and flexible academic buildings.

Released by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330