Do you give $ to your alma mater?.... why or why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I donated throughout my 20s, we’re double legacy at our alma mater, but as we’ve gotten older we’ve become more distant and less connected to the school. Haven’t been to homecoming in years for example, so less inclined to give now and we direct our charitable contributions elsewhere.

We stopped donating money a couple years ago, when everything went overly political instead of educational.

Latina here who, like many friends, have complained to Alumni about the use of dumb and anti-Hispanic "latinx" anglo bs.

[Anonymous]

No. It's a Catholic University.

I'm ashamed of once being a Catholic, and I won't give them any money to add to their war chest to wage an assault against children.

[Anonymous]

I donate to my undergrad SLAC, not my grad school. I support their mission and want to "pay forward" the scholarship money I received. They put me on a good path.

[Anonymous]

Nope. I have more important causes to support.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I'm a UVA alumni, and they have their tuition set by the state, but the state pays a very small percentage of their operating budget (last I looked was 9%). Meanwhile, academically, they're competing with top 50 schools, most of which are private and can charge way more in tuition, and many of which have absolutely bonkers endowments. And UVA is fully need blind. Without support from alumni like me, they would completely fall apart.

I am a monthly donor, and give I think $50 a month. Essentially, even as an out of state student, I got a fabulous education at half the cost. The least I can do is give back.

My ex went to a small liberal arts college with a large endowment, and his parents paid full freight. We feel no need to donate generally to the school. However, they have a program that helps non-students in their community, that is not at all well funded, and we do donate funds earmarked specifically for that.

[Anonymous]

Yes, because I am grateful for what I got from my undergrad experience. I will keep donating until it offers aid-blind admissions and has the same size endowment as its peer schools.

My spouse went to one of the biggies with a ridiculous endowment, and I thought he wanted to stop donating. I sure did. But he has decided he still wants to, and I am going along with that. But donating less, because eff you, kyriarchy preservation society.

[Anonymous]

A few years ago, they began a practice of admiring most students of color only to the less popular and more rural or small town campuses in order to boost the diversity there. This has created a lot of stress due to social and physical isolation for Black and Latinx students who otherwise would be in larger peer groups and in an urban environment with access to faith communities, their cultural cuisine, salons, and other things that help college students feel less homesick. And recently URM recruitment is falling because word has gotten out that kids are been sent to the sticks.

[Anonymous]

I went to a state flagship. I started out by giving $20/year, then $50 and now about $250.

I don't live in state and have only been back a couple of times since graduating.

I loved my experiences there and want others to have the same. The Republicans in the state have been undermining the school, so they can probably use all of the money alumni contribute.

[Anonymous]

No. While I enjoyed and value my college experience greatly, the reality is that they have simply become large passive investment pools. They use those large passive investment pools to sustain higher list tuition prices (which are really nothing other than a fraudulent way of trying to signal "value" and exclusivity) by offering "scholarships" to price discriminate in ways that have increasingly less to do with merit. Honestly, it's almost indistinguishable from prescription drug pricing behavior. (High list prices, sustained by patient subsidies generated from the high list prices and third party subsidies.)

As to grad school (GW Law), well, when the ABA raised concerns some years ago during their accreditation process that law tuition was essentially subsidizing the medical school, that was the end of that.

[Anonymous]

I have given to both my undergrad and grad schools for decades.

I give significantly more to my grad school alma mater because I never paid a dime of tuition and received stipends or work grants my entire time there. I direct my donation to be given exclusively to my Ph.D. department and it helps to support current graduate students. I am thankful for all they did to support me and want to pass it forward.

For a long time, I gave only nominally to my undergrad school. As much as I loved my time there and received a great education, my parents paid 100% tuition and R&B for that so I didn't feel the need to give back. I have increased giving over time - but grad school still gets more.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely, from $100-$500/year depending on whether it’s a reunion year or if they are doing a special capital campaign. It was a transformative experience, I received financial aid, I believe in the school and I would be happy if one of my kids went there.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Not much, but specifically to a fund for first-gen college students.

[Anonymous]

I stopped giving when I was contacted in one of the reunion years and was told that they had determined I could give $10,000 as an annual donation.

What the heck! At the time the net worth they may have been checking up on may have looked good, but I was drowning in bills for an SN child.

[Anonymous]

Colleges and universities in the US are one of the least effective places to donate for charitable purposes. Society would be better off if you fought inflation by simply setting fire to the money.

(I will grant a partial exception to Williamson School for the Trades, which offers free three year vocational degrees in an extremely structured environment to their young male students. Guys who do well here would flounder most other places.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. $5,000 a year. Because I believe in the mission.

I'm close to that. Its a non-flagship public, majority minority (though not MSI), and does amazing work. No significant endowment, and had <$1M in annual alumni giving when I started donating. Our other alma maters -- one non-flagship state gets a decent gift from us every year, and our very expensive private school and very well funded business school get nothing since they have plenty.