<p>We donate to our kids small LAC. We are impressed with the institution and grateful for the scholarships and financial aid that they award.</p>
<p>@ECmotherx2- which LAC is this?</p>
<p>Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL.</p>
<p>No, neither my wife nor I do.</p>
<p>We focus on giving money to organizations which help the hungry, poor and sick. I feel that those people need help way more than a well-endowed university does.</p>
<p>Yes. I don’t have much to give (and I give less now that I am paying tuition for my own kids), but it is important to the schools to have a high percentage of alumni participation, so I give a little.</p>
<p>I didn’t graduate from college so no alumni school for me BUT I do give a very small amount to my kiddos’ schools. They each received substantial financial aid and it is the very least I can do in exchange for the opportunities they allowed my children.</p>
<p>And yes p’ton does have a way of bringing in those donations! Each class competes against the others and son’s year was over 85% donating last year. He too donates a small amount (med student currently) and does attend Reunions. I was able to attend for his graduation and yes it is a very special party!!</p>
<p>Kat
also even with the pittance I send every year his school sends me a very nice thank you letter afterwards and a very nice letter later noting that I have sent something every year since his matriculation. My $10 is noticed.</p>
<p>I received generous merit aid from my undergraduate school so I feel a moral obligation to "repay’ that through alumni donations now that I am financially comfortable.</p>
<p>I was able to attend college because of the generosity of others, yes, I donate and have since I graduated.</p>
<p>I hated my undergraduate school and yet I still gave a small amount (for me) each year. That stopped when they rejected my daughter (I was happy she was rejected for numerous reasons) and I tell them when they call.</p>
<p>According to the Dean of my daughter’s current school it is those smaller, reliable donations that help considerably, much more than you might think. The consistency allows colleges to form a yearly budget from “small” donations and they come with less fund raising work.</p>
<p>We do give to my older daughter’s college, per her request. What she does when she graduates is up to her, she does have the means. Our younger daughter’s school can really use the money but as a Freshman, she’s not ready to give yet. We’ll wait for her okay. Honestly, I feel better giving to my younger daughter’s school because they need it more. I always go for the underdog!</p>
<p>Yes, we support all the schools that we or our daughters attended, undergrad and professional. I would love to be able to donate more, and hope we can some day.</p>
<p>Frankly, I did not have a good experience as an undergrad, and don’t think highly of the school today. But my husband is a grad of the same school, and he feels differently. And, as he points out, if I’d gone elsewhere, we probably wouldn’t have met. So that alone is worth a few bucks every year. :)</p>
<p>amtc–I agree with the small donations being their bread and butter. I work with a charity and we budget around the donations that we know we get year after year. It’s a lot of $20 donations but they add up. The “big” donations that come in are gravy and nice to get but they don’t come every year so we don’t plan on those.</p>
<p>Part of the US News ranking system involves the percentage of alums who donate. Therefore, even a small donation can be beneficial if it is made each year.</p>
<p>I find it very hard to resist when my undergrad college has current students call for a donation.</p>
<p>Most friends who donate and I earmark our donations specifically to the college provided scholarships which we benefited from which required both demonstrated academic merit and financial need and sometimes our favored academic departments. </p>
<p>However, we’re unwilling to donate to the general fund as such funds may be used for things we disagree with philosophically and/or towards wasteful ends.</p>
<p>I have very little money for charitable donations. I contribute a pittance to my local NPR station because it’s a service I use all the time.</p>
<p>What I do for my alma mater (state u.) is volunteer at college fairs as an alumna representative. At first I was reluctant to offer to do so since my career achievements seemed so paltry and I didn’t see myself as a good example. But I found that as the mom of a high school student, I was good at talking to the kids and parents too. And although it’s many, many years since my graduation, my daughter went to a summer program during which she stayed on campus and I found that the school had the same vibe it did when I was there.</p>
<p>I donate to my graduate school, but not my undergrad. I felt my grad school education was excellent.</p>
<p>We donate to both of the schools we attended, in our case my bachelor’s is from same place as H’s PhD. Like other posters, I could not have gone to the school without the significant aid I received & we are paying it forward for others. Same is true of him & the PhD. </p>
<p>We have received begging calls from the last child’s school she now attends, but I tell the nice young callers that currently we are sending them a lot of money every month already! I do know that a lot of parents donate to many schools; my own alma mater publishes their names in that annual glossy thing they send everyone & puts them in those “clubs” they make up for varying levels of donations – you know–the Friends, the President’s Circle and all that.</p>
<p>With 3 in college there isn’t a lot left to donate but we will donate back to D2&D3’s small school when we are able. They have been extremely generous with merit money and we are very grateful for that;I’m not sure how we would have managed without their generous scholarships.</p>
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<p>Me, too. I don’t send much, but I always send something.</p>