Grandmarc at the Corner

blueiguana
Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:49:27 +0000

@ erwinrd - Respectfully, When our son decided to attend UVa we eagerly looked into the UVa Parents Committee, ready to get involved before he even started his first class. In the information section we were hit with the following:

• Contribution to the UVa Parents Committee. The Committee expects 100% financial participation from its committee members so that we may ask others to join us in supporting the Parents Annual Fund. Although the University recognizes donors at levels beginning at $250, Parents Committee members are asked to make gifts at the level to qualify for membership in the Rotunda Society ($2,500 or more).

Many first year parents are just figuring out how to come up with $24,000-$48,000 to cover expenses. An additional $2,500 is not always easily found. You may be missing many parents willing and able to participate with this condition. I’m sure you would not turn away people willing to help, however it can be hard for one to come forward and offer when one is made to feel they are not keeping up with the other parents. It does not put forth the idea of inclusion, but exclusion.

This is certainly my two cents, but you may want to know how this comes across.