Do you donate to colleges?

[SunDancer]

I was reading a newspaper I bought a while back from Boston, that had an interesting article about the endownment fund of Harvard, and after the donation of the Grey Goose Vodka owner-and-seller of his $100 million to Brown and Leonard Miller leaving a $100 million gift to the University of Miami Medicial School, is donating to colleges seems to mixed singles. Your thoughts?

[VPI97]

I make two donations yearly to Virginia Tech...one earmarked for the Pamplin College of Business and the other towards athletics (gotta keep our wrestlers in singlets!). I know my bother does the same, and I believe my sister will start now that she's graduated. My parents have endowed a scholarship at VT, as well.

Nothing close to $100 million, though.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've donated to USC and UMDNJ-RWJMS every year for the past 3 years. Nothing huge, but a modest donation each year.

[SunDancer]

Originally Posted by VPI97

I make two donations yearly to Virginia Tech...one earmarked for the Pamplin College of Business and the other towards athletics (gotta keep our wrestlers in singlets!). I know my bother does the same, and I believe my sister will start now that she's graduated. My parents have endowed a scholarship at VT, as well.

Nothing close to $100 million, though.

Would be nice if you had that much though. I just found Harvard's endownment, fund-raising, and spending efforts to be quite interesting.

[Franklinnoble]

I gave to Arizona State University on a regular basis back in the early '90s.

[TLK]

I donate every month.... unwillingly....

[JeeberD]

I give to UTEP when I can...

[VPI97]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

Would be nice if you had that much though. I just found Harvard's endownment, fund-raising, and spending efforts to be quite interesting.

I remember thinking that schools like Duke and Vanderbilt were well off with their $2 - 3 billion endowments...then I saw that Harvard's was at $18 billion.

[Sharpieman]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I've donated to USC and UMDNJ-RWJMS every year for the past 3 years. Nothing huge, but a modest donation each year.

My God man...the last school that needs money is USC!

[cthomer5000]

I've made 2 donations to Rutgers since finishing school, specifically for student organizations.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Sharpieman

My God man...the last school that needs money is USC!

They gave me over 110,000 dollars in scholarship money. I would feel bad if I didn't give something back.

[digamma]

I give to both my college and law school.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

I was reading a newspaper I bought a while back from Boston, that had an interesting article about the endownment fund of Harvard, and after the donation of the Grey Goose Vodka owner-and-seller of his $100 million to Brown and Leonard Miller leaving a $100 million gift to the University of Miami Medicial School, is donating to colleges seems to mixed singles. Your thoughts?

Mixed signals? Why?

[Samdari]

I don't because it is such a scam. Universities lie to people to get them to donate - especially private ones. They charge $35,000 a year and claim that it costs twice that to educate an undergrad, so we need your donation to cover the rest, etc. LIE (can we get them 30 days in the box SkyDog?) They get that figure by dividing the total budget by the total number of undergrads. In reality, 30% or less of the resources paid for with that money goes to educating undergrads, so they are already paying for more than the cost of their education, and expecting donors to cover the tremendous amount of waste and excess at any large University.

I encourage everyone to divert their charity dollars away from Universities, and towards some other cause that touches your heart. You are being scammed, and there are people out there who really need help.

[Klinglerware]

Sidney Frank (the Grey Goose guy) donated the bulk of that to endow financial aid--he said he did it because he came from a underprivileged background himself. Ironically, he had to drop out of Brown (though WWII might have had something to do with it too). Ted Turner has contributed a lot to Brown too, and he didn't finish either (he was kicked out).

I've contributed to my undergraduate institution in the past, but not to my grad school (thus far, since I just graduated). I will contribute to either once they find me. My undergraduate school apparently has lost touch (I've changed addresses several times in the past three years). I've actually updated my info in the alumni registry, so I'm surprised that their marketing people haven't found me yet--especially since I've contributed in the past. Well, the university will get my money if they can get their act together.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I will start donating once my loans are all paid off. This will take a while...

[Ksyrup]

I haven't given a dime to either my alma mater or my law school. I might consider it for my alma mater, although I doubt I will. I seriously doubt if I will ever give to my law school because they tried to change the school policy on who qualified for graduating for honors while I was there. Instead of just instituting a new policy for future classes, they tried to retroactively apply it to all three levels currently enrolled. I would have been directly affected. Fuckers.

We appealed, they lost. More than just their stupid honors policy, too.

[cuervo72]

I'm not sure how much my university needs, considering they seemingly own half of Maryland...I'm pissed at them anyway after sending me to a collection agency over about $100 they told me I owed for dropping a class I was taking with tuition remission a couple of days past the deadline. I had written a letter stating my case and identifying myself as an alum who didn't have much money at the time, but hopefully would in the future...and if they wanted to see any of that money, they should give me a pass in that instance. They didn't, so I refuse to make any donations (though my wife has given to the School of Nursing - she needs to stop answering their calls).

[digamma]

Originally Posted by Samdari

I don't because it is such a scam. Universities lie to people to get them to donate - especially private ones. They charge $35,000 a year and claim that it costs twice that to educate an undergrad, so we need your donation to cover the rest, etc. LIE (can we get them 30 days in the box SkyDog?) They get that figure by dividing the total budget by the total number of undergrads. In reality, 30% or less of the resources paid for with that money goes to educating undergrads, so they are already paying for more than the cost of their education, and expecting donors to cover the tremendous amount of waste and excess at any large University.

I encourage everyone to divert their charity dollars away from Universities, and towards some other cause that touches your heart. You are being scammed, and there are people out there who really need help.

Here's a thought: I don't consider it charity.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by digamma

Here's a thought: I don't consider it charity.

That has no bearing on my original point that Universities are hopelessly inefficient with their money, and by donating to them, you provide no incentive for them to either manage their resources better or be honest about their finances.

And if it is money you are giving away, expecting nothing in return, for the purpose of helping others, what is it other than charity? Whether you consider it charity or not, it is money that would still be better used helping people rather than wasted.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Countless millions are contributed to various universities in the SEC each year ... all in the name of staying eligible for tickets/season tickets.

edit to clarify: I didn't mean "by me", I just meant in general.

[Klinglerware]

I think donating isn't necessarily a goodness-of-your heart kind of thing. Like JonInMiddleGA mentions, a lot of people do it to stay eligible for season tickets. There are people I know from elite level colleges who donate a nominal amount each year since US News uses alumni giving rate in their rankings. Thus the theory goes, you are keeping the perceived value of your degree high if you keep your school's ranking high by giving.

Whether you buy that argument or not, that's just an illustration that people give for various reasons other than charity.

[John Galt]

Originally Posted by digamma

I give to both my college and law school.

ditto.

[SunDancer]

I would never give to a sports program of my alumni after I graduate (Niagara, so we aren't a big-time program), because many of the players are wasting educations for free and the whole athletic spectrum of college sports. I would prolly donate to the medicial school of Buffalo (no attendence connection, but for health reasons), as well a Harvard speciality department that is treating me in Boston right now. I'm not sure if I would give to my alumni school if I graduated. I'm not too big on the way the priesthood (it's a Catholic University (not strict though)-I'm not Catholic) runs the university and uses the money. Plus, the department that I specialize in really butt-kisses the big-time CEO's, executives, owners, of the bigger companies.

The article is regarding Harvard that got me thinking. I know Harvard is alittle differnet, but I found it interesting.

http://www.harvard60.org/endow.html

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Samdari

And if it is money you are giving away, expecting nothing in return, for the purpose of helping others, what is it other than charity? Whether you consider it charity or not, it is money that would still be better used helping people rather than wasted.

Some would consider it an investment, to assist with propping up the value of the piece of paper hanging on their wall.

[John Galt]

Originally Posted by Samdari

That has no bearing on my original point that Universities are hopelessly inefficient with their money, and by donating to them, you provide no incentive for them to either manage their resources better or be honest about their finances.

And if it is money you are giving away, expecting nothing in return, for the purpose of helping others, what is it other than charity? Whether you consider it charity or not, it is money that would still be better used helping people rather than wasted.

I give to targetted programs at my undergrad. And even if there is waste, I believe those programs are worth supporting. At law school, I just give a little and probably just for the sake of giving something. I have no illusions that it is at all productive. It does, however, allow my law school to continue to have the highest support of alumni (in terms of dollars and percent of alumni donating) for whatever that is worth.

[Glengoyne]

Well let's see in order to get Season Tickets to Fresno State sports, you have to pay a PSL plus at least a partial scholarship(min $1300). In fact the size of the scholarship you pay determines the quality of the seat you can be assigned. So yeah, I "donate" to the University.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Some would consider it an investment, to assist with propping up the value of the piece of paper hanging on their wall.

Not only in inflating the sheepskin's value...but in developing relationships (both personally and professionally) with other donors and alumni. Also thinking way down the line, universities tend to look kindly on consistent contributors' children applicants.

[LoneStarGirl]

Although I am getting a full scholarship from my college I will never donate anything to them. There are so many more associations in need. My money will go to animal shelters or homeless shelters.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by digamma

universities tend to look kindly on consistent contributors' children applicants.

I don't think I would wish this on my kids, personally...

[digamma]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

I don't think I would wish this on my kids, personally...

Fair point.

[judicial clerk]

Countless millions are contributed to various universities in the SEC each year ... all in the name of staying eligible for tickets/season tickets

At Oregon, all season tickets cost the same amount regardless of where your seats are. I think the cost might be $35 per.

Where your seats are depends on how much you donate.

[AnalBumCover]

I donate to UCLA Athletics so I can get the Bruin Bench seats for their football games.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Since this might not be a familiar scenario for some folks, here's a link to the details of the cost of season tickets at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.

Mini-Season (Non-Renewable)
4-games $250 per pair
Lower Level Full Season (Renewable)
West Side Lower (R-W): $10,000 per pair
East Side Lower (A-C): $5,000 per pair
South Endzone Lower (G-Q): $1,000 per pair
North Endzone Lower (X1-Z15): $1,000 per pair
Upper Level Full Season (Renewable)
West Side Upper (RR-WW): $5,000 per pair
East Side Upper (AA-CC): $2,500 per pair
South Endzone Upper (GG-QQ): $1,000 per pair
North Endzone Upper (XX1-ZZ15):
# Rows 1-2 ( chairback): $5,000 per pair
# Rows 3-12 (bench seats): $1,000+ per pair
# Rows 13-26 ( chairback, undercover): $2,500 per pair
West(Pressbox), South(River), North(New Section), East(Team)

Now, those "donations" to the athletic scholarship fund are in addition to the estimated $550/pair cost of the tickets to six games. And those are not cumulative amounts, those are the annual donation required to retain that level of renewable seats.

And, FTR, I'm not picking on UT, I just knew how to find there's pretty quickly. I know that UGA is set up on a similar system & I believe most of the Southern football schools are basically the same, with costs varying by program interest.

[Sharpieman]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

They gave me over 110,000 dollars in scholarship money. I would feel bad if I didn't give something back.

Wow...nevermind...I think I just ate my words.

[cuervo72]

I don't believe Hopkins has (or needs) season tickets for anything...

[SunDancer]

Love the blackmailing of donations and college sports

[Celeval]

I plan to once we're on solid enough financial ground - targeted, to the drama group; as that's where I spent the majority of my years at Tech.