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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. My alma mater has a like nine billion dollar endowment, my extra money goes to actual charities that need the money.

Yes. My college has a $1.5 million endowment PER STUDENT. I give a token amount ($25 a year) just to signal that I support them in general. But if I gave another few hundred, or even few thousand, I can't see that it would make much of a difference.

I give to GiveDirectly, which gives money directly to extremely poor people. Every dollar makes a huge difference in their lives.
https://www.givedirectly.org/

Same. University of Texas. $32B endowment. 2nd largest in the country. And so much goes to football. I'm not giving. They're doing just fine without me. I donate monthly to planned parenthood, Raices, NARAL ProChoice, WAMU, and others. I'd rather my money go to these orgs. Love my alma mater but will put funds where I think it can be more effective.

[Anonymous]

I give ~$500 a year. In-state school that gave scholarships for undergrad, and paid for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. My alma mater has a like nine billion dollar endowment, my extra money goes to actual charities that need the money.

Yes. My college has a $1.5 million endowment PER STUDENT. I give a token amount ($25 a year) just to signal that I support them in general. But if I gave another few hundred, or even few thousand, I can't see that it would make much of a difference.

I give to GiveDirectly, which gives money directly to extremely poor people. Every dollar makes a huge difference in their lives.
https://www.givedirectly.org/

Same. University of Texas. $32B endowment. 2nd largest in the country. And so much goes to football. I'm not giving. They're doing just fine without me. I donate monthly to planned parenthood, Raices, NARAL ProChoice, WAMU, and others. I'd rather my money go to these orgs. Love my alma mater but will put funds where I think it can be more effective.

If so much goes to football, why are they perennially mediocre? In th4 meantime, I doubt any of UT’s endowment goes into football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. They got my tuition money.

You understand that even people paying full freight aren't paying the full cost of their education, right?

I can think of a lot of good reasons not to donate to one's alma mater, but "I paid tuition, so we're even" isn't one of them.

I know this is true for private HS but is this really valid at the college level? I understand that colleges have many streams of revenue (depending on the school) that would include interest from endowment, sports tickets, grants - but it seems clear to me that a large endowment school like Harvard that is varying tuition by ability to pay - a person paying full tuition could be paying even more than what their own education cost if it was averaged over all students.

This is not a complaint and not even meant as a negative statement....just curious if what you say applies to colleges - or even most colleges - in the same way it applies to HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. My alma mater has a like nine billion dollar endowment, my extra money goes to actual charities that need the money.

Yes. My college has a $1.5 million endowment PER STUDENT. I give a token amount ($25 a year) just to signal that I support them in general. But if I gave another few hundred, or even few thousand, I can't see that it would make much of a difference.

I give to GiveDirectly, which gives money directly to extremely poor people. Every dollar makes a huge difference in their lives.
https://www.givedirectly.org/

Same. University of Texas. $32B endowment. 2nd largest in the country. And so much goes to football. I'm not giving. They're doing just fine without me. I donate monthly to planned parenthood, Raices, NARAL ProChoice, WAMU, and others. I'd rather my money go to these orgs. Love my alma mater but will put funds where I think it can be more effective.

If so much goes to football, why are they perennially mediocre? In th4 meantime, I doubt any of UT’s endowment goes into football.

See here: https://revealnews.org/podcast/institutions-of-higher-earning/ and here: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/08/21/ut-system-oil-money-gusher-its-administration-and-trickle-students/

The UT system gets $600 million a year from the endowment, and they spend $38 million on financial aid from that pot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. My alma mater has a like nine billion dollar endowment, my extra money goes to actual charities that need the money.

Yes. My college has a $1.5 million endowment PER STUDENT. I give a token amount ($25 a year) just to signal that I support them in general. But if I gave another few hundred, or even few thousand, I can't see that it would make much of a difference.

I give to GiveDirectly, which gives money directly to extremely poor people. Every dollar makes a huge difference in their lives.
https://www.givedirectly.org/

Same. University of Texas. $32B endowment. 2nd largest in the country. And so much goes to football. I'm not giving. They're doing just fine without me. I donate monthly to planned parenthood, Raices, NARAL ProChoice, WAMU, and others. I'd rather my money go to these orgs. Love my alma mater but will put funds where I think it can be more effective.

If so much goes to football, why are they perennially mediocre? In th4 meantime, I doubt any of UT’s endowment goes into football.

See here: https://revealnews.org/podcast/institutions-of-higher-earning/ and here: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/08/21/ut-system-oil-money-gusher-its-administration-and-trickle-students/

The UT system gets $600 million a year from the endowment, and they spend $38 million on financial aid from that pot.

None of the money from the UT Permanent Fund goes to UT football or athletics. UT athletics generates actually turns a profit (almost entirely due to football) and gives some money back to the academic side. There is a separate endowment for athletics, but it is not related to this and comes from designated donor contributions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. They got my tuition money.

You understand that even people paying full freight aren't paying the full cost of their education, right?

I can think of a lot of good reasons not to donate to one's alma mater, but "I paid tuition, so we're even" isn't one of them.

I know this is true for private HS but is this really valid at the college level? I understand that colleges have many streams of revenue (depending on the school) that would include interest from endowment, sports tickets, grants - but it seems clear to me that a large endowment school like Harvard that is varying tuition by ability to pay - a person paying full tuition could be paying even more than what their own education cost if it was averaged over all students.

This is not a complaint and not even meant as a negative statement....just curious if what you say applies to colleges - or even most colleges - in the same way it applies to HS.

For most colleges and universities, the athletic programs are a cost, not a revenue stream.

[Anonymous]

I went to Williams and husband went to Harvard. Will start donating at like $50/year soon for kids, but no illusions that will help our kids unless they are smart.

[Anonymous]

No - it's meaningless to them and their big coffers. I give to my high school and my kids' elementary school where my donations are put to better use.

[Anonymous]

No- because we already paid them a ridiculous amount of tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope - it has become a real estate holding company and I think it hasn’t lost its way

..

I also went to NYU

[Anonymous]

I give to my undergraduate school, the University of South Podunk. They helped me get on track for a somewhat successful career and do a lot with first generation college students. For my two famous graduate schools, no. Let some billionaire with a lower tax rate than me pay for them. And apparently,some do.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Extremely modest amount and usually to my program of study. Graduated in 1993.

Smaller, state SLAC.

DH alma mater has an emergency fund for students in peril-I’ve given to this on DH behalf. If my school had such a fund that was earmarked for such emergencies, I’d be generous, but unfortunately this information isn’t easily available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Extremely modest amount and usually to my program of study. Graduated in 1993.

Smaller, state SLAC.

DH alma mater has an emergency fund for students in peril-I’ve given to this on DH behalf. If my school had such a fund that was earmarked for such emergencies, I’d be generous, but unfortunately this information isn’t easily available.

what a great program

[Anonymous]

Yes, I give monthly. I went to a small school that is now struggling. They need every penny they can get.