We regularly receive telephone solicitations requesting donations to my son’s college. (I don’t normally answer our home phone, but the “nervous mom” in me leads me to answer when the caller ID indicates it’s someone from his school.) I always give the “paying plenty of tuition; we’ll see if the degree gets him a job upon graduation and then decide” response. Clearly they expect that answer, so then they shift to trying to assure me that the money is needed to help protect the safety of current students. I was really tempted to play along…“What??? It’s not safe there? I’m headed up to get him right now!!!”
We never donated to our kids’ colleges until after they graduated. We’ve contributed to both colleges every year since then. We also donate to our own alma maters.
Thank you everyone for the great comments…either for/against/or deferring any dontations until after the student graduates. My D just finished her freshman year and I’ve recieved some letters in the mail from the development office. The school has made such a large difference in my D’s life (even after one year), that for me would warrant a donation to the schools general fund. She often tells me that choosing her current school was the best decision she ever made, and speaks highly of the schools administration, faculty, and advisory. Of course, a donation is a personal decision for everyone and depends greatly on your current financial situation.
Ds school started doing a Day of Giving. We give token amounts, especially since it it matched by alumni. This year we were able to donate directly to on of his clubs. We will never be major donors but it is a way we can show the school love on that day. They have number goals as well as $ goals.
i doubt I would make a donation whle I was paying tuition. I have donated to my kids’ high school, but it is public so I’m not shelling out tuition.
My kids both attended a wonderful summer program. I made a couple of small ($25-50) donations but I intend to make a larger and mire regular contribution now that I’m not writing them a big check every summer. If my kids have good colege experiences I wuld have the same approach.
We do make a token contribution to my sons’ school. as they are generous to him and we appreciate it However, this year they called back to ask for a second donation and I refused that one!
Too many to count from too many places. It really is OK to let the development office know that you would like to be taken off of their mailing list.
D went to my alma mater for grad school. After she graduated I wrote a check in support of an arts organization affiliated with the school that was pretty generous to her. They never contacted me, I contacted them.
My D attends my alma mater. I have given consistently since I graduated and haven’t stopped while paying tuition
We give to our kid’s college organizations directly, and we give to each of our alma maters, including high schools.
Several years ago someone from my high school was in town fundraising, Against my better judgment, I agreed to have lunch, fully expecting to be hit up for yet another donation. What I wasn’t expecting was a full on professional brochure with a personal printout showing that I could afford to commit $30,000. Oh, sure, let me grab my change purse.
We are full pay except for a one time merit scholarship from a ‘second party.’ So at this school where ~~30% of our tuition payments are “return to aid” we are already giving quite a bit. We got a call in the fall only a short time into the freshman year asking us to donate $1,100, specifically!! When my husband told them we were full pay, they said “Ok, how about $20 instead?”
I mostly received solicitations from the parents organization, asking for money to support student research scholarships. This is petty, but I still believe my D should have gotten a small award as a freshman, and did not…maybe because her high school didn’t make nominations, or maybe there was some unpublished criteria (she exceeded all the publicly-listed ones) she did not meet. In any case, I preferred to support a couple of student organizations instead. She graduated four years ago,and she began to make small contributions herself.
We get donation requests every few months from DS1’s LAC. Apparently our “elite” zip code triggers LAC’s special development campaign solicitations, including invite to a misrepresented “parents’ orientation session” development campaign kick-off meeting. We frankly can’t afford to be in tippy-top category of “benefactor”.
We are full-pay at Vanderbilt. When my D was a freshman there, we got a call from a student who started to give her annual-parent-fund speech. Before she got very far into it, I said, “Stop, stop. We are full-pay people, so we will NOT be donating more.” She said, " Oh you are?! I’m so sorry!" That’s the last solicitation call we received!