<p>When faced with enormous tuition costs, it's easy to feel that you can't give another penny anywhere. But tuition (high as it is) only covers a fraction of total costs. DH and I've been steady donors to our colleges - we figure that someone's donation paid for most of our education and it's our turn now.</p>
<p>Will I still donate if my d gets rejected at my school? Yes, but I know that stops alot of people.</p>
<p>Just some Wednesday morning musing...</p>
<p>I donated to alma mater until my kids went to college. I will donate to colleges, highschools where they have happily graduated. I don't donate anywhere to annual funds while the kid is still at the school. The jury is still out in my book in that case.</p>
<p>We're in the camp that considers our umpty-thousand tuition dollars to be all that we can donate to colleges at this moment.</p>
<p>I would expect to leave the donating to his alma mater to my son. Although, maybe after the last tuition check is written, I will feel differently and throw his school into the pool for consideration along with my own.</p>
<p>Most likely school for me to add to my donor list, interestingly, is the school that hosted him for his Katrina semester. I have a very very soft spot in my heart not only for their doing it (which so many schools did) but for the wonderful experience they gave him and the personal way they treated us.</p>
<p>I donate to my college, though heaven knows they don't need my money. I donate occasionally to my grad school. I had a somewhat unsatisfactory experience there, and I'm not happy with the direction the school has taken. I also donate to my (private) high school. None of the donations are very big, because I'm not very rich.</p>
<p>I have stopped donate to my alma mater. I am tired of subsidizing the millionaires' kids (each of whom receives more than a $100k subsidy over four years to attend), and I am particularly unhappy with the way its Administration has dealt with anti-Black, anti-Semitic, anti-Hispanic, and anti-gay incidents over the past five years. </p>
<p>I do donate to two other colleges whose mission I more heartily support, including my older d's alma mater.</p>
<p>I donate to mine, though at a lower level than during the years when we weren't paying tuition.</p>
<p>H donated to his (or to a particular school-based charitable organization for which he worked while there) for many years. But while his alma mater is one that many on CC consider to be the be-all and the end-all of college desirability, D's experience at her school (which is also my alma mater) has led to his deciding that he would rather show appreciation to that school, because he thinks it offers a better undergraduate experience. It's just his $.02, but that's where it's going now.</p>
<p>I believe I have donated to my high school, my college (Yale), and my law school (Harvard) almost every year since I graduated from each. Even though they can all do just fine without the couple of hundred dollars I generally give each of them!</p>
<p>But I don't think I can bring myself to donate to Yale anymore, now that my son wasn't accepted. Even though he probably would have chosen to go to the University of Chicago anyway, even if he had gotten in. I just can't think of any reason to give anything to them anymore. More than 30 years of it was plenty. </p>
<p>And I can think of plenty of charitable endeavors that really need, and could really use, whatever I have to give, a great deal more than Yale does.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my father also went to Yale, and regularly gives a whole lot more than I ever have, and I don't get the impression that he intends to stop doing so just because his only grandchild didn't get in!</p>
<p>Donna</p>
<p>I donate a small amount to my undergraduate school and H's undergrad school (both big state universities), Rice (D's undergrad school), Chicago (my law school), Texas (H's grad school), D's boarding school and S's final boarding school. I am not donating to S's current school- it's painful enough to pay the tuition!</p>
<p>We donate a small amount monthly to Ds college ) neither I nor H attended college.
We donate periodically to her middle/high school, and while I have donated to her elementary school in the past, it is hard to write the check considering the other current parents who make more money in a day than I will probably see in my lifetime!</p>
<p>I donated regularly to my alma mater but have not since D1 entered college. Will re-evaluate after D2 graduates.</p>
<p>H and I have both donated to our undergrad institutions (JHU and Princeton) for years, and I donate to my private high school, although none of these are large amounts by any means. We've been importuned by D's college to donate (even before her freshman year began!), but we think paying full tuition is enough of a donation. It's up to her if she wants to contribute to them in future.</p>
<p>One more area where USNews influences actual college behavior: I've heard pitches like, "Please donate at least a small amount - any donation at all helps increase our alumni donation rate which influences our overall ranking."</p>
<p>I really do believe that gross alumni donation rates mean something - a school that has half its alums donating has clearly formed a much stronger bond with them than a school where only ten percent of alums care enough to write a check.</p>
<p>I forgot about the US news thing- of course D's college could give a rip ;)
But I did give an annual donation while she was attending, and recently was inspired to start donating regularly by some of the programs I read about in the alumni magazine</p>
<p>I started out being a steady donor to my law school after graduation (almost 25 years ago) because I had such a great experience that made me the person I am today (even though I haven't practiced law for 19 years). Then we started donating to H's and my undergrad (same school) and his grad school--they were part of the equation that got us where we are today. </p>
<p>We've been donating to D's undergrad college since she started attending. We donate to the high school band program and a local youth orchestra which have been such a large part of our Ds' enjoyment during their high school years.</p>
<p>We don't donate much...but we donate to acknowledge the influence these institutions have had in the lives of the members of our family. Trust me, the colleges could do without the pittances (compared to their endowments) I donate. The act of donation is something that I do for myself.</p>
<p>My wife and I donate to the colleges we attended every year and have bequested each of them 1.5% of investment assets in our wills.</p>
<p>I donate to my HS, college, grad school and law school, and H does the same for his schools. We also donate to D's HS, and S's grammar school. We have decided to stop contributing to D's school after she graduates, because we believe the torch passes to her, and we will encourage her to donate what she can. We haven't decided whether to donate to her LAC yet. My inclination is to donate, but a smaller amount than we contributed to her HS.</p>
<p>We donate to H's college (which is also now S1's college) regularly. We do not donate to my alma mater. I was a married commuter transfer student and never felt any real allegiance to the school while I was there. It was more like a job. </p>
<p>I feel a much greater allegiance to the university where I spent my first two years and had the traditional college experience. Since I didn't actually graduate from there, I've never donated but now S2 will be a freshman there in Aug. so all that may change down the road.</p>
<p>H & I attended the same university where I now work in the budget area. And, given our experience and working knowledge of how our money is spent, no, we do not donate. However, we have made small annual contributions to all the schools/colleges that our children have attended...and will probably continue to after they graduate. D1, who just graduated from college, has made annual donations to her high school since 2004.</p>
<p>I donate to the alumnae scholarship fund of my high school, because I went there on a scholarship. I do not donate to my university, I have never felt any desire to give them money (not particularly fond of the place). H gives to one of his 3 colleges, a small amount annually.</p>
<p>i donate a small amount each year to my undergrad, but will never give a penny to my grad.
my parents feel that they paid enough tuition to give any further donations for their kids' schools!</p>