Since 2006, Altschuler has gifted several $100,000 scholarship programs at Quinnipiac. They include the Altschuler Award in Support of U.S. veterans, to assist children or spouses of veterans with demonstrated financial need; and the Altschuler Family Scholarship to assist children of widowed or divorced parents.

“It’s a good feeling to know that well over 100 alumni have benefited from the scholarships that I have set up over the years,” said Altschuler.

Altschuler, a certified financial planner, earned his bachelor's degree in organizational behavior from Quinnipiac in 1972. Altschuler credits friend and Board of Trustees Emeriti and former Board Chairman Arthur Rice '73, Esq, with inspiring his passion for philanthropic giving to the university.

The rationale for Altschuler’s first $100,000 gift to support Quinnipiac students of widowed or divorced parents was motivated by his work.

“Being a financial planner, I was constantly confronted in planning for college expenses for clients with a financial aid system that doesn’t really account for a one-income household, so those kids will often fall through the cracks. I wanted to bring some attention to them,” said Altschuler.

Altschuler’s next $100,000 gift was created to uplift and support families of U.S. military veterans returning from active duty.

“I was watching our guys come back from Iraq in pieces, and I wanted to do something to assist them. I remembered from my teenage years, as the guys came back from Vietnam, that they were not taken care of the way they should have been,” Altschuler said.

Altschuler’s idea was to develop a university program to “adopt a soldier.” The concept combined financial support with beneficial services provided by Quinnipiac’s health sciences community.

“I was encouraged by the fact that Quinnipiac is willing to listen to good ideas and proposals, and to set an example for the rest of the country by taking the lead,” he said. “My hope was that this program would inspire other universities across the country, leading to healing on a grand scale."

Upon learning that scholarships providing direct financial support to returning military veterans would significantly reduce benefits received through the GI Bill, Altschuler worked with Quinnipiac to instead formulate a scholarship program to benefit spouses and children of veterans.

“It was a good way to provide a system of support to the veterans and to take some of the financial pressure off of them,” said Altschuler. “Now, we have a large number of veterans on campus and the school is top rated for veterans. So it seems like bringing attention to that issue made a difference.”  

Today, Quinnipiac is consistently ranked as one of the top military friendly universities in the nation. Quinnipiac’s student veterans, a diverse group of men and women representing every branch of the military, are highly valued for the ideas, perspectives and insight they contribute to the university community.

With his latest gift of $100,000 Altschuler is helping to ensure that U.S. military veterans in Quinnipiac’s graduate-level education programs may continue their academic journey once their military benefits are exhausted.

“Rather than saddling them with more student loans and more stress, I felt this was a worthwhile follow-up on my previous gifts. It feels good,” Altschuler said. “I really take great pride in the idea that 96% of our graduates find employment or are in graduate school within six months of graduation. That’s impressive, by anyone’s standards.

Altschuler credits much of his drive and success in life to his time at Quinnipiac, where he began his studies as a transfer student with 12 credits. By engaging in additional course credit offerings and summer courses, Altschuler completed his Quinnipiac undergraduate degree in a remarkable span of two years and entered graduate school at age 19.

During his time at Quinnipiac, Altschuler applied what he was learning in business management studies as managing director of the Theatre Workshop program, which he grew into the largest student organization on campus. Additionally, Altschuler was selected among the first students to serve with the Faculty Senate.  Altschuler said he also gained valuable practical experience through his work-study position with Office of Public Relations, as a reporter for The Quinnipiac Chronicle, and as director of public relations for the campus radio station.

“I’m still benefiting today from everything I learned in that time. Quinnipiac is small enough and intimate enough that you can really develop a relationship with your professors and get real experience. I truly admire Quinnipiac’s high number of students that do internships and put themselves into the workforce while still in school. That experience is what employers look for and that’s what they’re impressed with,” Altschuler said. “One of the reasons I continue to support Quinnipiac is because I recognize the benefit of a Quinnipiac education."

With this current gift, Altschuler is challenging others to join him in support of Quinnipiac's veteran and military-affiliated students through Bobcats Unite in April.