Is Your Alma Mater Hitting You Up for Extra Dough?

<p>I don't mind donating to my alma mater and they haven't flooded my mailbox or called excessively.</p>

<p>Please be gentle with the "cutesy little voice cooing" and asking for donations. It ain't my daughter and it ain't my son - but it's SOMEBODY's daughter or son, doing his/her best to earn work/study or college job money for books, etc.</p>

<p>"Trust me, counting donations, those schools have gotten WAY more back than they had to put in to educate those kids."</p>

<p>Good. So let their millionaire parents pay for it the first time around. They won't blink an eye, and won't mind in the least (even anything, it makes the club "more exclusive".)</p>

<p>I don't know if this has already been said, but PLEASE be nice to those kids on the phone. I do that at my school and it is one of the most miserable jobs imaginable- the people we call can be really really rude and I have seen some driven to tears. At the same time, I've had some really rewarding conversations with alumni whether or not they give.</p>

<p>""The students are into tunnel-vision" -- definitely not. Most kids are doing it as work study or, in my case, as a second job on top of work study. I understand that most people can't give, but please don't take your frustrations out on the callers!!!</p>

<p>Fortunately for me, Syracuse University does not have my phone number, probably because I never fill out those cards for Alumni Directories they want you to be listed in. Then they try to con you into buying one of those Directories which I will probably never use. I get a lot of snail mail from them for credit card offers, trips, & other stuff like the fancy clocks, chairs, etc. I really don't need any of those things. </p>

<p>D3's school, St. Lawrence, usually calls asking for money for the Parents Fund & I am always very polite to the student as it is their Work Study Job. D3 told me that it is the worst Work Study Job on campus! Nobody wants to do it, but it pays the highest hourly wages! I usually tell the SLU student that my H & I don't give to our own schools, so no, we aren't going to start giving to our children's schools. </p>

<p>I feel bad for these students doing these Work Study Jobs, especially in this economic climate & I am sure some people are not as polite & friendly as I am! </p>

<p>Boston College does seem to call quite a bit for my H, but he always turns them down, saying he is putting 4 children through college, one is out, one is almost out, and there are two more to go! BC's caller is of course, a student, performing his/her Work Study job.</p>

<p>Second the "please be nice to the caller" sentiment. Now that I have a college student, I am well aware that the students calling are simply doing their work study hours and I know if I was on the other end, "the ask" would be difficult for me as well.</p>

<p>
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please don't take your frustrations out on the callers!!!

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<p>People are not taking their frustrations out on the callers -- they are taking their frustrations out on the corporate face of the organization that is being presented to them.</p>

<p>When callers take these jobs, they are that corporate face. Yes, they are still students, but that is NOT why they are calling -- they are calling because they have been hired to represent the university. As such, the ire expressed by those called is being vented upon the university, not the callers; it's not personal.</p>

<p>Anyone, everyone, who works a service job needs to learn this.</p>

<p>Re: getting hit up for dough, no. I blithely ignored the first begging mail I got back when I graduated, and never updated my information when I moved, so I get nothing!</p>

<p>I wouldn't be rude to the students calling. It is obvious that they are doing it as work study , no because they get all pumped for a beg-a thon.
But I do politely tell them that they are calling the wrong parent if looking for donations.</p>

<p>Note : School one doesn't even ask for small increments...they ask for hefty sums
School two asks for as little as $10</p>

<p>I gave $10 to the University of Pennsylvania and they mailed me a nice thank-you letter and fridge magnet of the LOVE statue on campus. Given that it had to be mailed to me all the way in India, it probably cost them more to mail me a thank you than they got from me in the first place...oops!</p>

<p>I get hit up by my high school, undergraduate school (general), undergraduate school (College of Arts and Sciences), graduate school, AND college where I work. In response to a previous poster, my school is one that does indeed ask parents of current students for additional contributions. What's amazing is that they actually get a fair amount of money.</p>

<p>Yeah, Alumni Affairs is the worst work-study job on campus -- nobody wants it. When I was in college I had several friends who worked there but they did it because no other work-study jobs were left by the time their financial aid went through, or they really needed the extra for books and other expenses. All of them hated it. They were constantly berated over the phone by alumni who were angry that the school was calling them for money, even though it wasn't these students' faults and had they the choice, they wouldn't be calling!</p>

<p>I totally disagree with owlice. People need to understand that screaming at a service professional who has no power to change the companies' policies is not going to do anything but upset that service professional. Students in alumnae affairs will continue to call your house regardless of how you act towards them, because that's how they earn their pay. Students who quit because they can't take the bad attitudes will only be replaced by other students assigned to do the same thing.</p>

<p>It's stupid AND bad manners to take your frustrations out on the "corporate face" when they're not doing anything to you, because more often than not, that's not going to solve your problem and you just look like a ******bag.</p>

<p>I give every year to Princeton and I haven't noticed an increase in solitations. I got a nicer thank you note last year than before. But, maybe more is to come. We get continual requests from the private middle schools that our kids attended and from the private HS my D attends. </p>

<p>We actually got a solicitation from our town to pay property taxes so that the increases for the house-rich, income-poor elderly do not have to leave. It is a good idea, but if the problem is that they live in a $1 MM house with no debt, they could probably cover property tax easily with a reverse mortgage. Not clear why other residents need to subsidize the house-rich, income-poor.</p>

<p>My dad (who got this from a friend) always says, he and his school had a contact--they held classes, and he paid them. Once he got his degree, the contract was over.</p>

<p>juillet, I'm not disputing that it's bad manners to yell at someone calling from the college soliciting money. (Whether it's good manners for the college to be calling at all could be discussed, but I'll resist that digression.) </p>

<p>However, it happens, and the college students who are, indeed, the corporate face of the entity calling, are going to reach people who yell at them. The ones doing the calling need to understand that they aren't being yelled at personally -- it's the college that's really being yelled at. A service professional knows that, and deals with it accordingly (by depersonalizing the incident); college students in such a position who get upset by being yelled at need to learn how to deal professionally with the yelling, and recognizing they represent the university can help them do so.</p>

<p>If I may, I wouldn't get worked up about colleges where your kids attend calling you -- I went to an HYP college, my parents were blue collar and I was on massive fin aid. They got the same appeals. It's really just broad marketing -- about only half of the kids at the school are on Financial Aid -- that means that many families are very wealthy so they'd be foolish not to attempt it</p>

<p>After graduation, I became the Pres of my local alumni club. In our mailing list, we invited all parents to our functions as well -- not asking for donations but really to pull them in. Just let it slide off your back. I'm sure once my kids go to college, I'll get the same! The USA is all about the marketing lists!!! I'm firmly convinced! LOL</p>

<p>My alma mater in California has sent me only one solicitation letter in the past year, even though I donate monthly to the university. This letter gave a detailed explanation of why funds were needed and various options to select for financial aid programs Some of the options were to purchase textbooks, funds for students to present papers in other states, scholarship funds and special needs funds.
I have received no phone solicitations.
Our church, which has a huge outreach program, has been much more aggressive in fundraising during the economic slowdown.</p>

<p>Between my wife and I, we get at least every other week calls and /or letters from UNC-CH, U of Florida Med School [me}, UT Arlington[her}, Baylor College of Medicine{both of us}, UCSF[both of us], my son's college (USC even tho we fork over 50K already), my son's old catholic high scjool, my daughter's private high school and my middle schooler's private school. It has gotten much worse over the last two months. They frequently have whispy sounding female undergraduates beg for any penny you can spare.</p>

<p>
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I make small, regular contributions to my kids' college (and one of them is still a sophomore there.) I will continue to do so for as long as I can. I know that my own kids have greatly benefited from the generosity of alumnus and parents, and I am happy to know that my donations will benefit the next generation of students. If not for donations, most colleges would be poor places, indeed!

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<p>I do too. I believe in paying it forward. A little contribution is better than none at all.</p>

<p>I think those of us who loved our college experience enjoy giving back. And I love my chats with current students who get me on the phone when I have time. I love hearing about how much they love the school I do and sharing our perceptions.</p>

<p>Anyone who is tempted to be unfriendly to a current undergrad clearly doesn't feel they got much from the school. This is why the alumni giving rate is the most interesting college ranking IMO.</p>

<p>I can't imagine yelling at a kid calling me from one of my colleges to ask for money. I know that they are either volunteers or doing it as a job. They've never been impolite. To the extent that they have been pushy (wanting me to provide a credit card number and charge the contribution), I tell them to send me the paperwork and trust me to honor my pledge.</p>

<p>Of course, I always donate. If my answer would be NO, I do hope that they would thank me politely and then move on to the next potential donor. I'm guessing that the fireworks happen because they don't take no for an answer.</p>