For those who don't donate because you don't like your school, why did you go in the first place?
I guess, I'm of the thought that there are plenty of orgs that need funds that don't classify as charities.
I just don't understand giving solely to charities. To each their own.
I actually liked my law school. Among the reasons I have not donated and will likely never donate is because, five years after I graduated, they built an over-the-top new building with an excessive amount of unnecessary amenities that will do nothing to enhance students' education or job prospects. I cannot support such a ridiculous capital expansion. It's unconscionable to me to overcharge students and take advantage of federal student loan money like that.
I have such a girl crush on you! You always say what is in my head but I can never clearly articulate. This. Binding arbitration. I'm pretty sure tort reform vs free market capitalism is in there, too.
On the subject, my grad school and under grad are the same school. Last time I visited, I was walking around campus with an old friend (who became a local), and eventually I had to ask, "where are all the poor kids?" He said they can't afford it anymore. My large flagship state school is unaffordable bc they put ac and private bathrooms in the dorms, organic food in the eateries (and killed the dining halls), and things like that. One could argue I should donate more so the poor kids could go, but instead I was disgusted by the use of tuition/room/Baird dollars.
I don't give. I really loved my department and have considered a small gift ($25/year?) before but I'm afraid if I give that, I will be hounded for more and more. If you give a mouse a cookie and all that.
LoveTrains do you have any insight? Do you think giving once will make the already large amount of requests even more persistent?
Sorry just saw this.
No, at most schools if you give once during the fiscal year they will stop soliciting you until the next year. You might get one second ask in the spring if you give in the fall depending on the program.
I went to an Ivy and I give because it makes me feel happy and connected to the school. It's not necessarily my biggest donation of the year (I gave twice as much to Planned Parenthood this year, for instance, because of a big political fight going on in my state.)
But I do make the gesture. I hope they remember my generosity when it's time for DD to apply to college!
7 figure gifts make no difference at all? Not that I plan on giving one , but I would have thought, say, $5M might get you a little bit of special attention in admissions.
I am certainly not naive enough to think my piddly little donations are going to do anything to get my kids in.
7 figure gifts make no difference at all? Not that I plan on giving one , but I would have thought, say, $5M might get you a little bit of special attention in admissions.
I am certainly not naive enough to think my piddly little donations are going to do anything to get my kids in.
Depends on the school. The poster that mentioned it referred to an Ivy.
Fyi I'm happy to answer questions people have about development programs in higher Ed.
@blissoff some schools only send the printed donor list to donors. I know my alma mater does. Your alma mater might do one online you can access.
I think bliss was talking about not getting job statistics.
But the people who were complaining about misrepresentations on job statistics were mostly (if not exclusively) talking about law school, not college. Law school is a glorified trade school. Getting a job afterwards is everything, and schools do a lot of selling based on job statistics.
So that's a very different context from undergrad (where job statistics are all but impossible to make any sense of anyway, at least at large universities, because you have philosophy majors lumped in with computer science majors and engineers so what is good for one could very well be paltry for the other).
7 figure gifts make no difference at all? Not that I plan on giving one , but I would have thought, say, $5M might get you a little bit of special attention in admissions.
I am certainly not naive enough to think my piddly little donations are going to do anything to get my kids in.
Depends on the school. The poster that mentioned it referred to an Ivy.
How much does legacy status matter? And what kinds of relations count for legacy status?
(Like, my cousin went to undergrad where I went to law school. Will his daughter be helped by him having gone there? For all schools, or just undergrad? And does me with the same last name going there help more, or not at all? What about the school where cousin and his wife went to b school? Will she be helped a decent amount at getting into the b school there? What about the undergrad?)
This is mostly a moot point, being that she's 2 and all and god only knows what she'll want to do with her life, but I'm wondering what your perspective is.
No. They send to H though. We're too busy paying off H's loans that he acquired from graduating from said college. (We attended the same college.)
Bonus for me is that they still send all the mail begging for money to my parents' house. Score one for changing my name and moving to another city. :Y:
I actually liked my law school. Among the reasons I have not donated and will likely never donate is because, five years after I graduated, they built an over-the-top new building with an excessive amount of unnecessary amenities that will do nothing to enhance students' education or job prospects. I cannot support such a ridiculous capital expansion. It's unconscionable to me to overcharge students and take advantage of federal student loan money like that.
I have such a girl crush on you! You always say what is in my head but I can never clearly articulate. This. Binding arbitration. I'm pretty sure tort reform vs free market capitalism is in there, too.
On the subject, my grad school and under grad are the same school. Last time I visited, I was walking around campus with an old friend (who became a local), and eventually I had to ask, "where are all the poor kids?" He said they can't afford it anymore. My large flagship state school is unaffordable bc they put ac and private bathrooms in the dorms, organic food in the eateries (and killed the dining halls), and things like that. One could argue I should donate more so the poor kids could go, but instead I was disgusted by the use of tuition/room/Baird dollars.
LOL
The most useful course I took in law school was a one credit consumer law class taught by Ralph Nader. I can honestly say that I think about things I learned in that class allllll the time. So I can't hate my law school too much because that class was life changing. But it made me a nut. Fortunately I have this board to spit out my rants because they are not always socially acceptable in public.
But seriously, you get me. I mean why on earth on kids taking out SLs to finance private bathrooms in dorm rooms?! Gah!!!
Depends on the school. The poster that mentioned it referred to an Ivy.
How much does legacy status matter? And what kinds of relations count for legacy status?
(Like, my cousin went to undergrad where I went to law school. Will his daughter be helped by him having gone there? For all schools, or just undergrad? And does me with the same last name going there help more, or not at all? What about the school where cousin and his wife went to b school? Will she be helped a decent amount at getting into the b school there? What about the undergrad?)
This is mostly a moot point, being that she's 2 and all and god only knows what she'll want to do with her life, but I'm wondering what your perspective is.
Depends on the school. You should be able to get legacy stats from admissions office. At the school you mention (your law his undergrad) it will help.
I believe at my alma mater the acceptance rate for legacies is almost twice that of everyone else. But when acceptance rate is 10% and legacy gets you to 20% that helps but it's not everything. Probably being an accomplished pianist or recruited athlete helps more.
How much does legacy status matter? Â And what kinds of relations count for legacy status?
(Like, my cousin went to undergrad where I went to law school. Â Will his daughter be helped by him having gone there? For all schools, or just undergrad? Â And does me with the same last name going there help more, or not at all? Â What about the school where cousin and his wife went to b school? Â Will she be helped a decent amount at getting into the b school there? Â What about the undergrad?)
This is mostly a moot point, being that she's 2 and all and god only knows what she'll want to do with her life, but I'm wondering what your perspective is.
Depends on the school. You should be able to get legacy stats from admissions office. At the school you mention (your law his undergrad) it will help.
I believe at my alma mater the acceptance rate for legacies is almost twice that of everyone else. But when acceptance rate is 10% and legacy gets you to 20% that helps but it's not everything. Probably being an accomplished pianist or recruited athlete helps more.
I got curious and googled our alma mater's legacy acceptance rate and found an article from a few years ago saying the legacy acceptance rate was 36%. (The overall acceptance rate last year was ~12%--non-Ivy generally ranked in the top 10.) I knew it helped, but I had no idea it made that much of a difference. The article also says that my school only counts parents or grandparents as legacies.
Depends on the school. You should be able to get legacy stats from admissions office. At the school you mention (your law his undergrad) it will help.
I believe at my alma mater the acceptance rate for legacies is almost twice that of everyone else. But when acceptance rate is 10% and legacy gets you to 20% that helps but it's not everything. Probably being an accomplished pianist or recruited athlete helps more.
I got curious and googled our alma mater's legacy acceptance rate and found an article from a few years ago saying the legacy acceptance rate was 36%. (The overall acceptance rate last year was ~12%--non-Ivy generally ranked in the top 10.) I knew it helped, but I had no idea it made that much of a difference. The article also says that my school only counts parents or grandparents as legacies.
So there are two things going on here. First, obviously legacy status gives you an advantage.
But at places like Harvard, Princeton & Yale, they also get many applicants that aren't actually qualified for admission but people apply anyway. So because we live in a society where upper middle to upper class people tend to do better on standardized tests and attend better high schools (etc), it is also likely that children of alumni (and grandchildren) tend to have profiles that mesh better (on average) with the admissions profile for the school. Thus the pool of applicants from alumni is perhaps stronger than the general applicant pool - leading to a higher admissions percentage.
But yes, the advantage is definitely there. And its a big one. It's part of the criticism about these schools.
At my alma mater (acceptance rate for admissions approximately 15%) I know that legacies and recruited athletes are absolutely given preference in the admissions process. And this is a school with no athletic scholarships - all financial aid is need based.
LoveTrains -- That makes total sense. I don't doubt that the children of people who were qualified for admission to elite colleges are more likely than a member of the general population to have those same qualifications themselves for a variety of reasons. My H was a legacy but had crazy high SAT scores and (I think) would likely have been admitted regardless. But from a pure numbers standpoint, I still like the fact that my kids odds look better .
Do my kids likely count as legacies for purposes of undergrad admissions at the institution where I went to law school?
Both Dh and i are "lifetime" members of our alumni associations. I know thats not really the alumni fund, it was a decent contributio that keeps us in the loop. I give each year to my specific school w/i the university, along with a specific activity i was involved in, a specific building project, and then a few random things that come up over the years. I did receive a small scholarship to my big 10 public university and really loved my experience. I do feel they have an aggressive development dept though. Every time i contribute they include a "can you spare any more" with each tax receipt. They also call until i tell them to stop calling (ie we often screen).
Dh only contributes to very specific areas of his big 10 public university. He doesnt give to his masters school at all and we contribute marginally to his doctoral school, and thats only because he's employed there now and it is taken directly from his paycheck.
LoveTrains -- That makes total sense. I don't doubt that the children of people who were qualified for admission to elite colleges are more likely than a member of the general population to have those same qualifications themselves for a variety of reasons. My H was a legacy but had crazy high SAT scores and (I think) would likely have been admitted regardless. But from a pure numbers standpoint, I still like the fact that my kids odds look better .
Do my kids likely count as legacies for purposes of undergrad admissions at the institution where I went to law school?
Depends on the school. The poster that mentioned it referred to an Ivy.
How much does legacy status matter? And what kinds of relations count for legacy status?
(Like, my cousin went to undergrad where I went to law school. Will his daughter be helped by him having gone there? For all schools, or just undergrad? And does me with the same last name going there help more, or not at all? What about the school where cousin and his wife went to b school? Will she be helped a decent amount at getting into the b school there? What about the undergrad?)
This is mostly a moot point, being that she's 2 and all and god only knows what she'll want to do with her life, but I'm wondering what your perspective is.
all i know is that on UC applications (CSUs too i think) they ask if any family members graduated from X and Y systems. maybe it'll give dd a bump that her mom, aunt, uncle and numerous cousins are all UC alums.
i'm still bummed my dad turned down John Wooden's offer to attend UCLA in the late 60's/early 70's ... all FOUR of us would have breezed into UCLA be a part of FOUR NCAA Championship basketball teams - send your kids to UCLA no problem.
Okay that makes sense re law schools and inflating stats. I didn't realize that was the case.
Granted, I don't know any lawyers irl. So it's not something I'm familiar with.
smh
bliss how long have you been here ?!? there are biannual vent sessions about this exact topic ! one would think that ANYONE who follows this board either actively or as a lurker would know this !
Okay that makes sense re law schools and inflating stats. I didn't realize that was the case.
Granted, I don't know any lawyers irl. So it's not something I'm familiar with.
smh
bliss how long have you been here ?!? there are biannual vent sessions about this exact topic ! one would think that ANYONE who follows this board either actively or as a lurker would know this !
I don't pay attention to lawyer convos.... let alone retain it. It doesn't really appeal to me in terms of long term knowledge. It's not really something I need to apply or use irl.
No. Maybe I'll give to the small private school I went to for undergrad someday. I'll probably never give to the public university where I got my masters though.
For people that don't give now but would consider it some day, just wondering what is stopping you? Is there anything the development office could do that would make you donate now instead of waiting?
I'm not trying to criticize your choice, just inquiring if there is something a development office could do that would make you ready to give now.
For people that don't give now but would consider it some day, just wondering what is stopping you? Is there anything the development office could do that would make you donate now instead of waiting?
For people that don't give now but would consider it some day, just wondering what is stopping you? Is there anything the development office could do that would make you donate now instead of waiting?
Student loans
If student loans are holding you back, would you be likely to give $5 or $10 or $20 if you got something asking you for a gift that specifically asked for that amount?
Again, not trying to be critical or call people out individually. Just trying to find ways to tweak the messaging at work to appeal to people if you DO want to support the college but are holding back for one reason or another.