<p>From the time my son first started college (he just completed his freshman year), I have received several e-mails, numerous mailings, and a couple of phone calls from the college seeking contributions. Is this common at all schools?</p>
<p>Yes, it's common, especially if the college is in fund-raising campaign mode. And it won't end after graduation: that's what alumni are for!</p>
<p>It's OK to tell them not to call you for fund raising. I even have done this with my alma maters. I hate fund raising calls of all kinds. </p>
<p>The callers are students who are paid to call. They are happy not to call someone who would be irritated by their call.</p>
<p>You can also ask to be removed from the solicitation list (different from the mailing list)--you won't receive appeals and phone calls but you'll get notices of college events.</p>
<p>Yes. We get repeated phone calls from many of the summer programs (Interlochen, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, etc) that my daughter attended over the years, too.</p>
<p>Schools that brag of alumni support report about 50% of alumni contribute. Norm, I guess, is about 25%-33%. What are reasons that alumni do (or don't) contribute?</p>
<p>I get calls from my alma mater once or twice a year. (It is now my older son's alma mater, as well.) I always give a few dollars, not enough to really help at all, but just something to show I care. The reason I give is that I received a generous need-based grant when I attended, as did my son, and I am grateful for that. I would like to help make those grants available to other needy students. I also feel I received an excellent education there, so I want to do what I can.</p>
<p>I give to my own school, for the same reason Susantm says, because I got scholarships when I really needed them.</p>
<p>But when S's school calls me to contribute to the "parents fund", I inform them I'm already contributing 40K a year, and that is enough!</p>
<p>If you like the school I would give a very modest gift just to show support and let their numbers reflect happy families.</p>
<p>I send a very small check to my alma mater each year because it makes me feel good that I am subsidizing the education of rich folks. (I'm being serious), and I hope they can leverage alumni participation with rich donors who won't otherwise make better use of their money. (I believe that the college is actually already way too rich, and there are better things that can be done with hard-to-find private philanthropy these days, but that's just the way it is.) I hope that someday they will make better use of their billion dollar-plus endowment. But I am thankful for the education they gave me.</p>
<p>I give a slightly larger amount to Earlham each year because I am in tune with their educational mission. We haven't been approached by my d.'s college yet, but I'm sure I'd give them something. But most of my money (which isn't a lot) goes to support the education of 245 orphans and destitute children we have at our three hostels in south India. $140 a year provides food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and education, and we've been sending an increasing number on to colleges and universities.</p>
<p>My parents always donated about $50 to the security department at my school - until they gave me a bogus parking ticket. They didn't donate to them after that.</p>
<p>The softball team always had a finals time fundraiser where they sent out papers to all of the parents, and you could "donate" to the softball team and they would send your kid a goody basket. one year i got a huge thing of cookies, another year i got a bucket of junk food, etc.</p>
<p>I have no problem with a school trying to raise funds through their alumni, but to solicit parents of students who have just started in college is inappropriate.</p>
<p>I have to pay over $40,000 per year (no financial aid) and feel that that is more than enough without being asked for contributions on top of that. </p>
<p>Also, in looking at the typical college application, it is apparent that sections are designed to create fund raising databases for this purpose.</p>
<p>There is no obligation to give. If you feel stretched already, don't. But it's not inappropriate for the school to ask. Many families feel differently. Many people give a portion of their income to charity every year, and their child's school could easily become the focus.</p>
<p>Zagat made a good point about redirecting $ from a family's planned charitable giving. We made a small donation to the parents' fund at rising soph D's LAC as we were very pleased with the quality of education she received during her first year. The $ goes toward need-based scholarships. On the other hand, despite our positive opinion of S's school, we did not contribute to its parents' fund. He went to OOS public, so we were already supporting the school with the hefty OOS tuition.</p>
<p>I contribute to my undergrad and law schools. Both schools were important parts of my moving ahead economically, intellectually and socially. I don't give a lot, comparatively (the proverbial widow's mite), but I have given steadily for 20+ years. Also with an employer match, the contribution is doubled. </p>
<p>I'm actually surprised at how few of my classmates (25-33%) contribute, even a little bit. On the other hand, I am amazed at how much some of my law school classmates contribute. Obviously, investment banking has been very very good to them.</p>
<p>I also just started contributing to D's undergrad (to the parent fund). It isn't a very big contribution at all.</p>
<p>Even though I have never contributed financially to the places where I went to college or where my older son went, I understand why they solicit from parents and alum. I also know that there are plenty of well off parents and alum who can easily give to their alma maters and to the colleges that their kids are attending.</p>
<p>My contributions to my undergrad institution have been through service, including service involving travel that has been at my expense. My college has plenty of billionaires, and one of the highest rates of alum giving in the country, and my family is on the low end of the economic scale of the college's alums, so I feel I am contributing what is reasonable. My charitable giving goes to organizations that are in more need than is my beloved and astoundingly heavily endowed alma mater.</p>
<p>I have contributed to my graduate alma mater, but do not do so any more because its graduate program in my field has changed so much that it bears little resemblence to the marvelous program that I went through. </p>
<p>I hope that if older S ever becomes financially solvent, he'll contribute to the place that he proudly calls his alma mater even though he dropped out after only a year. As for my husband and me -- we're pinching pennies to prepare for our younger S to attend college next year.</p>