<p>Let me start by saying I am musing about this question simply out of idle curiosity and not because I could actually do this. But when everyone talks on here about the various "hooks" that might help get their kid into a very selective BS, one of the possible hooks is being a big-time donor to the school (or havng the possibility of becoming one). How much money do you think it takes to have this become a hook? I'm not talking about getting a kid who's not academically qualified in; I'm thinking of the masses of kids who apply to boarding schools and could do the work, but need that extra something to make them stand out from the masses. So if donating money were that thing, are we talking about parents who can afford to give a whole new building to the school, or just parents who are going to give more than the usual amount (not that I even know what that is)?</p>
<p>This is actually easy. Find a development letter from the school that explains the difference between annual tuition charges and the ACTUAL cost per student per year. Let’s say as a guesstimate it’s $7500. You have to give at least that figure annually, and I would say safer to double it. If the school knows you are willing to pay the TRUE full cost of your kid’s education, PLUS subsidize the gap for another student, then you are in the ballpark. Obviously, the larger the school’s endowment and application numbers, the more selective they can be, but I can assure you this is how to calculate the baseline answer for your question.</p>
<p>My idle curiosity leads me to THIS question: how do you even bring up the donation (of any amount) in the admissions process? :-)</p>
<p>Yeah, I wondered about the bringing it up part too. Maybe there’s some “code” that those of us who don’t have Rockefeller-type money just don’t know about! I guess you could somehow make some reference to it in the parent essays that most schools make you write, but it just seems so crass. And yet, I suppose some people must do it.</p>
<p>Sometimes families are known for their philanthropy, or a job title on an application can strongly suggest the likelihood for future giving. They know exactly who to cultivate- no one has to say a word.</p>
<p>^^yep, the Development office is well aware of families during the application process.</p>
<p>But that’s kind of what my question was intended to get at. I mean, obviously if your last name is Rockefeller or Gates, they’re going to know that you’re a “development candidate,” or if the parent is the CEO of a Fortune 100 company. I put those people in the “could donate a building” category. PelicanDad’s post seemed to suggest, though, that it’s still an admissions hook even if someone had a lot less to give than a whole building. That’s the kind of thing that would be a lot less obvious. I know from the private school that my kids go to now that it’s not always the parents who you’d think that give a lot to the school’s annual fund. So how do the schools suss that out in advance, or do they not bother with it in the admissions process once you get past the Rockefeller/Gates of the world?</p>
<p>Most schools have someone on their development staff whose job it is to do “prospect research”. And they do some pretty deep research into not only the background and finances of current families, but of the full-pay applicant families as well. If a family has a history of giving to other institutions or nonprofits, that’a a really big plus for them.</p>
<p>A relevant article from the NYT
<a href=“Opinion | Is Private School Not Expensive Enough? - The New York Times”>Opinion | Is Private School Not Expensive Enough? - The New York Times;
<p>As for how to approach a school to make a substantial donation in exchange for admitting offspring, consider the case of Lily & Gerald Chow. They used an educational consultant as a go-between. They gave the consultant 2 million bucks, and well, you can guess what happened…
[Quest</a> for admission to Harvard ends in $2 million tangle - Metro - The Boston Globe](<a href=“Quest for Harvard entry ends in $2m tangle - The Boston Globe”>Quest for Harvard entry ends in $2m tangle - The Boston Globe)</p>
<p>At DS’s prep school, one of the seniors got off WL after family donated a new library building to the university.</p>
<p>One small example to support cameo43’s post: if you put your home address on the application, it is very easy to check public tax records to find our its appraised value. Not to mention googleearth can give pretty much anyone an eagles eye view.</p>
<p>I consider the Chows’ unfortunate story an example of What Not to Do.</p>
<p>Searching online for “prospect research and development strategies school” turned up: [The</a> basics of prospect research](<a href=“Past Issues”>Past Issues)</p>
<p><a href=“http://majorgivingnow.org/downloads/pdf/Fundamentals_of_Prospect_Research.pdf[/url]”>http://majorgivingnow.org/downloads/pdf/Fundamentals_of_Prospect_Research.pdf</a></p>
<p>Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t think the schools do such research before accepting a student. The big schools know a great deal about legacy applicants, though, including the family’s record of donations over time. Again, maybe I’m naive, but I think any suggestion of linking acceptance to a donation would offend admissions officers.</p>
<p>If you can pay full tuition, it helps your child’s application. Some names are so famous, such as Gates or Bloomberg, the staff wouldn’t need to do research.</p>
<p>I have heard informally that gifts over 1 million are needed to “place a finger on the admissions scale” at the prep schools. Harvard undergrad, maybe over 5 million if you are a “suitable donor”. Harvard turned down the Stanford’s huge fortune, so they started Stanford University in memory of their only son who died as an adolescent. There are also rumors of such gifts being accepted by schools without acceptance of the children of interest - without refund.</p>
<p>For many schools, the “true cost of education” is 35K greater than the tuition - or nearly double the tuition. It is picked up by prep school endowments greater than the budgets of many third world countries (maybe some exaggeration, but 1 Billion is the endowment of several). </p>
<p>For money to carry weight in these circles, it has to be A LOT, and from an impeccable source.</p>
<p>I’m sure schools run their databases through a wealth indicator like this<a href=“https://www.blackbaud.com/bb/wealthpointforre.aspx[/URL]”>https://www.blackbaud.com/bb/wealthpointforre.aspx</a>. I wouldn’t see why they wouldn’t run their applicant parents through it too, but I would think a family would have to score very high (an A rating) to gather much attention. It would lead to perhaps a discussion and follow up but not an outright admittance of an unqualified candidate-- that wouldn’t help anyone. To give you an idea of scale, Phillips Academy announced this fall they exceeded their goal in their most recent campaign, raising more than $300 million.</p>