Ten years of changing lives

Successful Sydney accountant Stan Droder knew a thing or two about money. How small sums, invested wisely, could compound and deliver dividends over time.

He also knew a thing or two about hardship, as an orphan who grew up in western Sydney in the 1940s and 1950s and left school at 16. Instead of gaining a tertiary education, he went through the chartered accounting program – and rose to the top of his profession through sheer hard work.

What Stan didn’t truly understand was what it was like to live and learn in regional Australia – that is until he took up a two-year post as CEO of CSR’s Oberon timber mill, an experience that would shape him profoundly.

This exposure to country families, coupled with his own upbringing, led Stan to calculate how he might best assist others long after he was gone. “Stan wanted to support the students and families doing it tough,” says Richard Evans, a trustee of the Droder estate. “He believed that everyone should have the same educational opportunities, regardless of their financial situation.”

That belief saw Stan invest generously in UNE’s regional students, who he felt were often geographically and financially disadvantaged. “Stan was firmly of the view that a good education opens doors, and he wanted to ease or remove the financial burden of that for as many as he could,” says Richard. “He wanted those students to be able to experience something that he had never experienced, which was campus life.”

Initially, Stan offered book prizes for students living in residential college, in memory of his wife Carole, who also hadn’t had the chance to attend university. Between 1999 and 2012 he donated over $12,000 to help meet the cost of textbooks.

Then, upon his death in October 2014, Stan left a bequest of more than $3 million to UNE to invest, generating returns to fund two-year scholarships (each to the value of $20,000) for undergraduate students from low to middle-income families to enable them to experience life in residential college.

Now in its tenth year of operation, this endowed fund has been lifechanging. To date, it has provided $1.7 million in scholarships for 85 individuals.

Among them are medico Mitchell Tillott and archaeologist Crystal Phillips. Like many recipients, they put their scholarship money towards living expenses and learning opportunities.

It allowed Mitchell to give up his part-time supermarket job to concentrate on his third and fourth-year medical studies. “Straight away, I was less stressed,” he says. “The money went towards my accommodation, helped fund a two-month overseas elective placement in Thailand, plus resources for medical school and relocation costs associated with two clinical placements in the first year (2018) and another the year after. Then COVID hit and no-one could work, so I was super thankful to receive the scholarship.”

The first person in his family to complete year 12 and attend university, Mitchell took the “long-way round” to medicine, first completing a Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree. He now works as a career medical officer at a private hospital and began his GP training this year.

“Without the scholarship, I would have probably got burnt out,” Mitchell says. “I had taken a gap year between the two degrees, to work and save money, so I didn’t have to work and study at the same time, which was really challenging.”

One of the first recipients of a Droder scholarship, Crystal says it helped her both personally and professionally – to live in residential college, when her car broke down and while studying archaeology at UNE.

“Coming from a low-income family, it was a big thing for me to go to uni, but I wasn’t sure how I could afford it because I couldn’t call on my parents for financial support,” says the heritage consultant/archaeologist. “I used a chunk of the scholarship to gain real-world experience, to attend an international field school in Spain, join our class cataloguing artefacts at Port Arthur in Tasmania and complete a short course in working with human remains. These experiences all helped me to get my first jobs.”

And there have been longer-term benefits.

“The scholarship enabled me to kick-start my savings, and my partner and I have just bought our first house,” Crystal says. “I had a strong start to grow from and that really helped when I took maternity leave. I thank Carole and Stan deeply for their support. Without it I might not have been able to finish my course or have the career and life I have now.”

Richard is in no doubt that Stan would be thrilled with the scholarship outcomes.

“He was someone with a big heart who identified a real need and was determined to make a difference,” he said. “As trustees, my colleague Stuart Salier and I are extremely delighted with the positive effect the program has had on the lives of so many UNE students. Not only has it assisted them with their finances, but in the majority of cases it has minimised the need to work parttime, resulting in much improved academic performances and campus involvement.

“Additionally, the scholarships have eased the financial burden on many parents, particularly those on the land or in small business, who in recent years have had to counter drought, floods, bushfires, COVID and the ever-increasing cost of daily living.

“Funds from the Droder bequest will continue to be invested, with the annual income providing a source of funds for future students. We hope other potential donors see the ongoing power of such a bequest.”