USC’s CarolinaLIFE is a nondegree, residential, inclusive program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. CarolinaLIFE students explore their career interests and hone their employment skills through individualized coaching and access to USC courses. On any given day, staff members might prepare them for job interviews, teach them about budgeting money or introduce them to campus organizations.
But the University of South Carolina wasn’t on Dave Bollinger’s radar when he left the banking industry to start a successful vacation rental company in Vermont. But after seeing the impact CarolinaLIFE had on daughter Ruth Bollinger during her first visit home for fall break, he was amazed at what a Gamecock education could do.
“He saw my transformation from high school Ruth to college-age Ruth and taking on more responsibilities, understanding cooking skills, understanding laundry and cleaning,” Ruth says. “He was just so impressed. He was like, ‘I have never seen you so engaged with wanting to learn about finances — how to balance a checkbook, how to write checks, how to pay bills.’”
Dave made the leap from parent to donor in 2018 during the university’s first-ever day of giving.
“My biggest goal is for this to be expanded and advertised because it’s such an excellent program. The setting is perfect. The staff is fantastic. And it’s really a life-changing thing. To help financially is just a no-brainer for me.”
“I get this Give 4 Garnet postcard in the mail, and I see that the College of Education is set to give all the proceeds to CarolinaLIFE,” Dave says. “And I’m going, ‘This is unbelievable.’ I was pumped up. I couldn’t believe it. I was all in right there.”
Ruth has since graduated, but both have stayed involved with CarolinaLIFE — and both have continued giving back. In 2024, the two established the Bollinger Family Scholarship to assist the next generation of USC students with intellectual disabilities.
“My biggest goal is for this to be expanded and advertised because it’s such an excellent program,” says Dave. “The setting is perfect. The staff is fantastic. And it’s really a life-changing thing. To help financially is just a no-brainer for me.”