MomCat puts this in perspective, thanks.
After giving generous gifts to my family members, I would give it to my alma mater - a large public. The money would fund study abroad for 1 year in a non-English speaking country for anyone with a 3.0 or higher. The funding would cover all costs of study abroad, including airfare and travel, plus tuition and room/board at the school if the year abroad delays the student’s graduation by a year.
In other words - if you want to study abroad, I’d fund it. The only catches are the minimum GPA, that it’s for a year, and in a non-English speaking country. (I might exclude India, though. It’s so foreign that the English there is a bit of a moot point, lol.)
I would invest it in luxury private student housing, make billions, and run for president.
katliamom —so my study abroad in Windsor, Ontario is out?
ha ha @sorghum ! Don’t forget the lazy river. 
I’d give it to the University of Illinois (our flagship) to upgrade their cheap plastic bags they give on campus tours, and to install giant fans to blow the smell of cows away from the campus.
Maybe it’s not the cows… jk… :-p
I don’t know which university I’d pick, but wherever I might use it to endow a fund to issue 0% interest rate loans to kids who could pay the principal back over long periods of time, when they could…but yes they would commit to pay it back if they could as a fair deal, and it would perpetuate for other kids beyond them. Hopefully it wouldn’t be hijacked by a bloated university administration and used to pay for an unethical football program…
“katliamom —so my study abroad in Windsor, Ontario is out?”
@zobroward – come talk to me about it. I’m easy.
While I share the sentiment, pumping money into developing countries often does more harm than good depending on how it’s done. I would, however, give it to development projects that I’ve vetted.
Assuming I had to give it to a university, I’d give it to the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at MSU, my old program of which I was one of the first graduating classes. RCAH was overwhelmingly upper class white women and I want them to increase diversity. I also want them to expand their study abroad scholarships for low income students. Being able to study abroad as a 0 efc student was an incredible luxury that was only possible because of scholarships and it was life-changing.
I’d likely donate the money to a school that sees a lot of bright kids go into finance, stipulating that it be used to provide full scholarships for kids pledging to spend 5 years teaching in one of 3-4 struggling public schools.
Imagine the effect of 50 bright kids who would normally head for Wall Street doing useful work instead.
While nowhere near 100 mill 
, my H and I are currently providing 2 paid summer internships through a new program at my alma mater in which students are offered meaningful summer work through the college and a variety of outside employers. If the internship is not normally paid the college’s program pays students a $4,000 summer stipend for a full summer’s work. The thing I like about this program is that it allows kids on FA to work for a small nonprofit, do research, or participate in a competitive but normally unpaid internship, opportunities that are normally not a realistic option for kids who need to earn during the summer break. It’s a subtle way to equalize things between the kids with money and connections and those without.
I’d use the 100 million to endow a foundation to fund boarding schools for low income students. If we can’t get the dysfunction out of low SES communities, then offer kids a way to get away from the dysfunction.
Romani, in terms of doing good vs harm, what do you think of charities such as Doctors Without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, The Carter Center (which has nearly eradicated the guinea worm from the planet), CARE, Oxfam, International Rescue Committee, Water.Org, UNICEF, Feeding America?
And Planned Parenthood - thinking of increasing our donation to them.
I do try to check out each charity through the various charity rating sites before donating.
I have always thought that if I got 100 million I would give it to the Gates to donate for me - I would want to make a big impact with that much money and not sure a college donation would do that (although I kinda like the all dorms having singles idea)
Oh my. 100 mil for a nice sexual health education program at PP across the country.
D recently asked me how much she would have to donate to get her school to build a big addition on one of the buildings. “Would 10 million be enough?” I told her it would certainly get their attention. Great goal, girl!
Is encouraging even more grade-grubbing and test-cramming among pre-meds the most efficient use of money for medical students?
If it is desired to use the money to help medical students, then, considering the projected shortage of primary care physicians, probably partially because debt-laden MDs may not be able to afford to go into the lower paying primary care specialties, perhaps it may be more worthwhile to use the money to offer special student loans to medical students whose principal and interest are gradually forgiven if the student works in a primary care specialty after completing residency.
I would probably create a foundation that would award several scholarships to several students with no emphasis on one area of study over another.
I would set up a scholarship program for kids with B/C High school GPA’s for use at Technical colleges. Not everyone needs to get a 4 year degree. There are jobs that people can support themselves if they have the right training.
I would re-endow the scholarship that I received in my senior year for $5 million.
Seattle University offers a 4 year scholarship under the Sullivan Leadership Scholars program, which is meant to attract top students to Seattle U. I’ve been impressed with the Sullivan scholars and would give $20 million to endow the program’s scholarships.
There is a community college in my city that promises a free first year to graduating seniors from two high schools. I would give the remaining $75 million to sustain the 13th Year Promise Scholarship program.