I just got the 5th request in the last year for a donation to my alma mater. One was explaining how desperately the football stadium needed renovated, the others are pretty generic. I feel that I paid the University a fair amount to attend, and I know the cash flow is still there as tutition isnt getting cheaper. The speaker at commencement spoke for 30 minutes about the importance of donating, that turned me off. As do the constant mailers. I dont have much disposable income, but for those that do, do ya feel the need to give? btw…I bet Lance would donate.
Not until I pay off the education I got there first…kj
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A guy who was in some of my business and accounting classes has funded an endowment to my alma mater to build a new business and accounting building. For a mere $100K contribution to the fund, I could get a classroom named after me. I just don’t have $100K to spare right now.
I have made a few small donations over the years, but if I had an extra million or two, I don’t think I would feel the need to give a whole lot of it to them.
It would be kind of fun to make a $100K donation in the name(s) of some of my college drinking buddies–Hugh Jass, Mike Hunt, Ben Dover, Herbie Hinde or Jack Mehoff, just to see a classroom named that.
The skinny on the donations from alumni is to help in generating donations from corporations and other assorted trusts that soley exist to promote higher education. The corporations et. al. always want to know what percentage of the alumni are donating. So if you donate a dollar, you are helping your school get more money from the corporations etc…
I almost always do, even if its just a little.
Not really. I have paid 12 years of tuition to the University of Illinois (no, it didn’t take me that long to graduate), got a very good education (so did my daughter), and continue to pay state taxes. I figure we are even.
I have given to the U of I law school from time to time and might give some in the future if they hit me up when I’m feeling unusually charitable.
I give pretty substantially to both the school & the athletic program for two reasons:
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I would not be where I am today without the lessons/relationships/growing-up I did at the school & thru the swim program. Simple as that–I got into the school, which I had no business attending (academically I was a disaster coming out of prep school, but I was pretty fast in the water & test extremely well) and I feel I owe them for giving me the chance.
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The second reason is very self-serving: I want me kids to be able to attend this school if they so wish. If a few hundred thousand over the next ten-fifteen years ensures this, so much the better.
Not right now, possibly never.
I went to a small private liberal arts school on the east coast and I don’t feel as though giving money directly to the school would be put to the best use possible (as I see it). If there is a scholarship at the school for those who could handle the work but need tuition money, I’d give to that. However, I know of a great many scholarships “back home” (I live 25 minutes from where I grew up) that would be much more greatly appreciated, and would much more dramatically benefit those kids who need it, which is why I already give money to those scholarships.
I can’t imagine ever EVER giving money for an athletic facility, unless it was for a non-football/basketball team.
Yes. I have to in order to be eligible to even apply for the football ticket lottery
Also a University of Illinois Grad and, yes, we donate. I feel very strongly about the importance of public universities. As one of four kids my parents couldn’t afford private education and I hope that an affordable opportunity is always availble to kids around the US. And yes we also donate to the AA so we can get good seats to B-ball games.
Pat
My Alma Mater should be paying me for going there.
I’m with triplethreat on this one. My alma mater should be donating to me.
I don’t donate and I don’t feel bad about it.
Mike
Didn’t even graduate and got an alumni donation request. I sent the a letter telling them to fuck off, as they already got over $100K of my money.
Mine doesn’t ask.
Not being American, the fun thing about this forum is the peculiarly American insights into everday life. Most stuff is pretty sameol’, but some of it is really “only in America”. (The "do you carry a gun while riding? thread was a particular gem).
The US education experience is astonishing to me, because it is so different to mine (Oz).
I posted recently about the (comparative) joys of public health. All of my medical dramas in recent years (bike smashes, nasty eye disease) haven’t cost a penny. We are having our baby soon in, I believe, the country’s best facility. On the public system it’s free (not just cheap - actually free). It’s so good it can’t and won’t last.
Similar story with education. I did two undergrad and two post-grad degrees at a total cost of a few hundred dollars. I did my MBA in France and needed a new mortgage. Back home some fees (with deferred repayments) have been introduced, and increased in recent years. The students unions took to the streets. There was outrage and crankiness.
Just for fun I did a Masters degree in literature recently as a “full-fee paying” student. The Unis love those, because most students are still getting a whopping discount one way or another.
My entire course fees were $3600 AUD (about $2700). Having done one degree privately I recognise that as a bargain. Most students are still pretty indignant about it, though. It was free for my generation, it should be free for them. They do get a government youth allowance / study assistance of about $325 per week, so its not all bad.
Praise socialism!! (kidding, of course).
no i refuse. i went to the university of cincinnati, and while there was treated like shit. there is not even an alumni for the rowing team. they got enough of my money–and my parents money.
My roomate was a dumbass football player who could barely read yet he had a full ride. I’m with TripleThreat, they should be donating to me for helping to put that idiot through college.
If by donating $ you mean contributing for better season football tickets? Then yes I will, eventually. Maybe in a couple years when I can afford to drop a couple grand…for now, my money goes towards more important things in my life like my addiction…tri’s.
Other than that, I might contribute money if I knew that it would go towards women in the engineering department. Gotta give back to your roots.
I got my law and MBA degrees from Michigan, while one of Latin and Greek profs got his Ph.D. from Ohio State so I make a bet on THE GAME every year, and then donate a book to the Classics Department in honor of the winner. At least I try to. I don’t donate any money to Michigan and won’t as long as they chose to discriminate on the basis of race in admissions. I stopped donating to my prep school, which is probably the place that did me the most good, because of some recent decision by the administration to do away with some of the things that made my prep a really unique school. I will probably resume donating to my prep school in another 5 or 10 years.