I’m a student, mostly on scholarship, and I don’t intend to donate, ever. However, if I ever was awash in money and looking for something good to do with it, I might set up an endowment specifically to fix what I see as problematic in the school right now. One of those awkward endowments with fifty rules about how to spend it, you know?
I don’t and won’t give to mine. I feel no connection with them at all. I disliked the school and feel no obligation whatsoever.
My charitable donations go to things I care deeply about.
I haven’t, but some day when I have money to give, I absolutely will. And if I’m ever spectacularly wealthy, I’ll create some kind of scholarship. My school gave me damn near a full ride between scholarships and grants, and it’s an excellent institution. It was expensive, but I would have paid triple that for the education I received. Higher education is certainly a worthy cause for donating money.
I give on occasion. The University that I attended offered me a fantastic education, and I could have never become what I am without its help.
My American Alma Mater is cordially welcome to… this is not the Pit.
My Spanish Alma Mater doesn’t ask me for money. If I’m ever in a situation of being able to hire people with the kinds of degrees they produce and little or no experience, I’ll use their “job-seeking service” but that’s because I like the kind of brains they grow, not because they ask me for it.
I give money in exchange for stuff. When they’ve published a 10th-year and 15-year alumni directory, they asked for “at least $60” for a copy. I sent $100 each time.
I do wonder, though, now that I have a kid starting school, if making donations might not be a good investment, admissions-wise?
My concern is that it simply washes out. I.e., that the legislature uses increased donations as a reason for cutting state funding.
I used to give to my undergrad school. I enjoyed my time there and got a superior education. Plus they are relentless in begging for money.
Though it was a private school and quite a bit more expensive than state schools, at the time I attended the tuition was within the reach of a comfortably middle-class family. Now the tuition there has skyrocketed. No matter how much financial aid they give, the majority of the student body has to be from wealthy families.
So I don’t feel the same about them anymore and I stopped donating. Now their numerous phone calls seem like stalking. They even tracked me down at work which really pissed me off.
I’ve never given to my two graduate schools, even though I had teaching assistantships. It was a job. I got paid. Thanks.
This is the same exact situation I am in. Women’s education was highly praised and we were constantly told how valuable it was, and then suddenly the administration decided we needed the men to come save us. It didn’t matter what the students thought. As soon as that decision was made, I told the school to never contact me again about donating. Surprisingly, I haven’t heard a peep from the fundraising department. I have kept in touch with the alumnae department only.
I loved that place, too. If they had only taken the students’ feelings into account, (even if they did end up being co-ed in the end) I would probably be a pretty generous donor after my vet school loans are somewhat paid off.
~beegirl13
Wells College '04
Yes, I donate to one of my universities.
When I was a student there, they gave me some money, ostensibly for academic standing, but I was later told informally that it was “Because we like you.” At the time I was paying my ailing parents’ mortgage and putting bacon on the table, so I very much appreciated how the university did what it could to look out for me.
Years later I returned there to teach. Some of my students were so poor that they lived in a tent borrowed from the university. This was in northern Ontario, where winters are fierce.
So yes, I donate. Every dollar makes a difference.