FAQ

Franklin Dinners complement the excellent existing programs, including the Penn Mentor Meals Program. Because Franklin Dinners are designed to be a curated, elevated experience, we are quite different from the Penn Mentor Meals Program. However, due to the limited size of each Franklin Dinner, we could encourage students who aren’t able to join one of the dinners to initiate a meal through the Penn Mentor Meals Program.

(1) We are constrained by funding. (2) We’ve found that freshmen are well-served by existing NSO programming. (3) We hope that by having at least one year of Penn education, student participants have time to develop academic an interests they can bring to Franklin Dinners.

Students are selected by lottery. They don’t need to apply or interview. We believe everyone should have an equal chance to be part of this experience.

Dinners are fully funded. Participants do not need to pay for the dinner.