<p>I am wondering what schools offer little-known perks to their alumni. I know of two: Cal (Berkeley) owns a summer enclave known as “Lair of the Bear” for family camping. Stanford owns a summer enclave, Stanford Sierra Camp, on Fallen Leaf Lake (just adjacent to Lake Tahoe), and a winter chalet, Stanford Alpine Chalet, near Alpine Meadows ski area. I used to love the Sierra Camp (have gone since the early 70s on and off) although it has gotten a bit too upscale and clubby for my taste–I liked the simpler days of hiking, lazing on a kayak, etc., to the too-many scheduled activities and lavish meals that they have now.
Others?</p>
<p>Brown has a college counseling service for the children of alumni! Of course I got my email about it on Dec 27 or something, after all the apps were in the mail!</p>
<p>I think they must do this to assist alums whose kids are not Brown material; to keep these alumni happy & connected.</p>
<p>U. of Michigan has a fabulous summer camp in Northern Michigan for its alums. Also some nice golf courses.</p>
<p>The alumni association arranges some great travel opportunities, but that’s not very unique; many universities offer those.</p>
<p>And, of course, there’s Stanford’s Golf Course, where Tiger played! My H is glad he married me for that alone! :D</p>
<p>Rensselaer gives alumni children $3000 merit scholarships for four years, a perk our son is taking advantage of. Both my alma maters, Ohio State and Cornell have fine golf courses. Also, Cornell has a fine on line series of lectures and discussion groups on a wide range of subjects. Finally OSU alums can join the Faculty Club which has reciprocal agreements with other college clubs around the world. I have taken advantage of all these when the occasion arises.</p>
<p>Although not an alum myself, St. Lawrence has an Adirondack camp for use in the summer.</p>
<p>Princeton gives you the enormous privilege of being able to carry around orange and black umbrellas without people thinking you are colorblind.</p>
<p>My favorite perk from MIT is that—for free—I get email forwarding for life, and an email address that says (myname)@alum.mit.edu—and the email is forwarded whereever I want. I send it routinely to two different places, an on-line service and my home computer (which means I can check my email any time I want AND keep a copy). And MIT has superb spam filters, I never get any junk mail. If I change ISPs, my email doesn’t change its address–I just change where it’s forwarded.</p>
<p>And of course, snob that I am, I love it that my email address says that I’m an MIT alum.</p>
<p>(The University of Washington offers the same service to their alums. But they charge money for it!)</p>
<p>Penn/Wharton does the same email forwarding thing…no charge (at least for that service)</p>
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<p>Thanks for a genuine laugh this morning!</p>
<p>My Princeton story: My son’s first football game was a Princeton game. This is saying something, because I am a native Nebraskan and my husband and I both have degrees from Michigan. We come from two huge football traditions, and where does our son see his inaugural game? The Ivy League.</p>
<p>Can’t beat the Ivy League halftime shows, though. I like a little irony in my band performances 
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<p>Little known perks? </p>
<p>Legacy bump for admissions…but not at any of my alma maters.</p>
<p>U. Chicago waives the application fee for kids of alums.</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara has a popular vacation program on campus during the summer aimed at alums. After all, what other University is right on the beach? Sigh…</p>
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I’m assuming you’re another Michigania-n, hoedown? My family has gone for about ten years and we LOVE it. I can’t wait to be a counselor there in a few summers.</p>
<p>Of course, having the 5/6s raise the U of M flag every morning isn’t brainwashing at all…</p>