“This gift is a tremendous opportunity for us,” said Ellwood at a reception with wine, shrimp, crab and spinach finger-foods following the announcement. “But it is not enough for us to rescind all the cuts from LRAP, or to return to the exact same format of the program.”

More KSG students go into the public sector now than they used to, spreading LRAP funds more thinly across the board.

In June 1997, after former Kennedy School Dean Joseph S. Nye’s first year in office, more than half of students coming out of the master’s of public policy (MPP) program took private sector jobs after graduation.

KSG spokesman Jesus Mena said that 80 percent of the MPP Class of 2003 went on to work in the public sector.

Nye loosened the LRAP eligibility requirements to encourage K-School grads to take lower-paying jobs working for government agencies and nonprofit groups.

But more grads in low-paying jobs meant more alums seeking LRAP aid, and the program’s budget mushroomed from $44,000 when Nye took office in 1996 to more than $200,000 last year.

Nye said last year that he had raised $50,000 to maintain LRAP at full strength for current students. But he added that LRAP would pose an even larger financial burden in future years.

But Ellwood noted that the Kennedy School is hardly cash-strapped.

“We have lots of people that give to the school, and we’ve seen a huge increase in donations in the last few years,” Ellwood added.

“We the students have done a lot of work to secure more money for the LRAP program, so this is great news,” said Bryan Richardson, a second-year student at the Kennedy School.

In his announcement speech, Rubenstein thanked his children for making the gift possible. “I thank my children, because while they don’t know it, it is their money that I’m giving away.”

—Staff Writer Lauren A. E. Schuker can be reached at schuker@fas.harvard.edu.