how much do you have to donate to your alma mater to get your kid an edge?

[Anonymous]

Just curious. We've made very modest ($50 a year or less) donations to the college we both graduated from, and assume that it takes major bucks that we don't have to give DS a greater preference than simply being a legacy.

[Anonymous]

Just add 5 zeros.

Seriously, you're better off shaping his resume starting now (finding out which extras he can excel in, drilling to get him 2 grades ahead of his class, insisting on perfect grades all the time) than wondering about donating to your school.

Universities are not acting in the best interests of their students, and have never protected them, for instance, from loan sharks. The whole system is rotten in my opinion, and I would never donate my hard-earned money to such institutions, even though technically, I could. Tuition and board are progressively becoming ridiculously expensive for what the potential edge of their future diplomas can give to our children. So if my children can work hard and get in on merit into a good university, fine, I will pay tuition. Not one cent more.

[Anonymous]

As much as it costs to put a name on a building. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the school. For a very selective school I think the building analogy is the right one. It needs to be REAL dollars. For a less selective school regular 5 figure donations are probably enough. $50, or even $1,000, annual donations are a non factor.

[Anonymous]

my family collectively prob donates about 100,000 a year to my alma mater. my nephew still didnt get in. to be fair he didnt deserve to get in but i was still surprised, it actually gave me more respect for the school. (notre dame)

[Anonymous]

Harvard apparently accepts 30% of legacies vs 6% of regular applicants. Not all the legacy kids can be from big donor families (endowed a chair or built a building) so there must be some sort of boost there.

So I'm guessing you might get a slight bump from giving small amounts steadily over the years. You could probably also get the same bump from interviewing applicants or getting involved in the local alumnae club. But it won't give your kid a very big advantage and the extent of any advantage probably depends on the college in question. I've heard that you don't get much love for the occasional donation of $50-100 every 4-5 years, because they're looking for loyalty to the college.

I've actually wondered the reverse. My alma mater is one of the richest schools in the country and I've rarely donated because I figured some other charity had more need for my small donations. So I wonder, if DC decides he loves my alma mater, and he mentions I went there, would that hurt him?

[Anonymous]

The only reason my brother was accepted to med school was my grandparents gave major money (the medical center is named after my late grandmother) I would say 5million to have major pull with admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only reason my brother was accepted to med school was my grandparents gave major money (the medical center is named after my late grandmother) I would say 5million to have major pull with admissions.

Ok. That's disturbing. I don't care if some English major buys his way in but I really hpe your brother isn't operating on me.

[Anonymous]

We give $1500.00 annually to my SLAC school. Have since the 80's. My kids (so far) don't want to go there, which is fine with me. My other school has a 1.9 billion endowment so I don't think they need my piddling amounts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We give $1500.00 annually to my SLAC school. Have since the 80's. My kids (so far) don't want to go there, which is fine with me. My other school has a 1.9 billion endowment so I don't think they need my piddling amounts.

I actually donate pretty generously to my SLAC every year - in that range or higher in reunion years. I've also been involved in fundraising over the years. Neither of my kids have/had any interest in attending either. But if they did I doubt my contributions would make a difference if they were middling candidates. If they were highly qualified then it might help relative to another applicant if all other things were equal (which if course they never are).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my family collectively prob donates about 100,000 a year to my alma mater. my nephew still didnt get in. to be fair he didnt deserve to get in but i was still surprised, it actually gave me more respect for the school. (notre dame)

I also went to ND and, honestly, your story gives me more respect for the process also. I know another ND alum who swears her daughter didn't get in because they didn't give enough and I hoped she was wrong. She probably was. Still, with all the legacies there, I don't think giving regularly hurts!

[Anonymous]

This year I was at a UPenn commencement ceremony for a nephew, and got talking with another mom. She lamented that she couldn't get her second son into Princeton despite having a relative who is a dean at the school pulling for them. I thought that was interesting.

[Anonymous]

Wow - can none of your kids achieve anything on their own merits?

OP. are you the same poster who wants to know if going to a name-brand upper school will get your kid a good wife?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow - can none of your kids achieve anything on their own merits?

Harvard apparently accepts 30% of legacies vs 6% of regular applicants

[Anonymous]

Two children whose mom went to Radcliffe both got into Harvard. The mom did not have a red cent so those two legacies got in without financial motivation.