Girard
College
Girard College is a 5-day boarding school for academically capable students, grades 1-12, from families with limited financial resources, each headed by a single parent or guardian. All Girard students receive full scholarships to take part in the school’s strong academic program and to live safely on its enclosed 43-acre campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Girard College is a full-scholarship boarding school that fosters intellectual curiosity, social development and emotional growth in academically focused students from underserved communities. We ensure every student the opportunity and the means to achieve excellence and preparation for advanced education through purposeful academic and residential programs.
Girard College was formed by an unprecedented act of philanthropy shown by French immigrant and merchant, Stephen Girard. At the time of his death in 1831, Stephen Girard was the richest man in America and his endowment for Girard College was, up to that point, the largest private charitable donation in American history.
In his will, Girard directed the city of Philadelphia to use his money to build a boarding school for poor, orphaned or fatherless boys so that they might be prepared for the trades and professions of their era. Girard College opened its doors in 1848.