<p>eell45: This is fascinating. While it’s clear that such “deals” go on with Admission Offices and Development Offices…I’m quite fascinated in how the parties do their dance. Is there an express “quid pro quo” tossed onto the table like a dead fish? Or is there some more subtle approach that’s put into play where the message is tacit but never spelled out? And which side first broaches the “quid pro quo” aspect if it advances to an express agreement among the interested parties?</p>
<p>the new music building here cost around 50M without the instrument and the world class music hall in it…and the hand-made fazioli piano…they are expensive i assure you</p>
<p>blairt: Often the name goes to a benefactor who seeds the initial funds…though it can be very much short of the actual cost of the entire building. That’s okay, because everything in the building is going to get some name plastered on it. The magnificent arched windows in the main entranceway: $500,000. The atrium on the third floor in the center of the building: $1,000,000. The main chemistry lab/black box theater/faculty lounge: $250,000. The wall-mounted, hand-cranked pencil sharpener in the back of the study hall: $36.79</p>
<p>But back to your question: It depends on the building. The more ancillary naming rights there are (churches/chapels are laden with naming opportunities while faculty offices…not so much) the less need there is to kick off the end of the “quiet phase” of the fundraising with a big bucks name deal announcement. And, of course, the cost of the building is a big factor: with science labs requiring more than, say, a humanities classroom building.</p>
<p>Still it’s multi-millions we’re talking about. Though, this isn’t necessarily paid out in cash (or even check). Sometimes – oftentimes – there’s a gift of stock. And sometimes the school holds onto the stock. And sometimes they hold on too long…or the stock is pledged as security for a future stream of payments. And when the bottom falls out of the market, it’s very embarrassing.</p>
<p>If you’re saying you’ve got anywhere from as “little” as $5-$10MM lying around to give away, blairt, I’m saying I can find a building that will be named for you at some BS somewhere.</p>
<p>The deals happen between the donor and the development office. They keep files on families and know who has what. Some families have an introduction made when applying. They will often visit with the development people and the head of school when interviewing. One poster here said he got such treatment at SPS.</p>
<p>The development officer keeps touch with the families over the child’s years at the school. They visit towns around the Country taking parents to meals and having alum host parties for wealthy families. The development people are also available to get things done for kids at the schools.</p>
<p>Well, it would be very tricky. Because – in the terms you put it – you’re basically saying, “Look, I’m not really interested in supporting you unless you admit my son, and that pretty much means that my son is such a huge loser I figure it’ll take about $50MM of my money for you to take him as part of a package deal.”</p>
<p>So, my next question for you eell45: Would you feel better or worse knowing your CEO grandma offered your top choice BS a $50MM in return for letting you in?</p>
<p>Yes. I know. Which is why you might want to adjust your own sarcasm meter. The question, however, is still worth posing. How’d you feel if something like that happened? Good or bad?</p>
<p>The kind of people who get to do these deals are dealmakers for whom it’s a no brainer. Please, in NYC there are people spending a million to buy their kids into preschool!</p>
<p>The kind of people who get to do these deals are dealmakers for whom it’s a no brainer. Please, in NYC there are people spending a million to buy their kids into preschool!</p>
<p>In New York, the preschool frenzy is unbelieveable. For the top fifteen or so New York City preschools, there are an average of fifteen students competing for every spot. The unbelieveable thing is, there are eleven students competing for every spot in in an Ivy League school. Thus, it is harder to get into a top New York City preschool–of which are more of that Ivy League colleges–than Harvard, Princeton, or Yale.</p>
<p>The million dollar donation stor was werllcovered by the press. There are pleanty of preschools just like there are pleanty of colleges, it’s just that everyone wants to go to the same few.</p>
<p>That particular fact was in The Overachievers. It’s a subject that interests me a lot in general, so when I read nonfiction I tend to lean toward that genre.
There are plenty of preschools, but people get very stuck on the idea that there are only a few that are “good”. These are feeders to prestigious primary schools, which lead to prestigious high schools (such as some of the schools people on this board apply to, in fact ;)), which supposedly lead to an Ivy League school.</p>
<p>Wow, so their are feeder perschools to get into feeder elementeries, that get you into feeder middle schools, that get you into feeder high schools, that get you into elite colleges! How rich would someone really have to be to spend all that money when they could just buy their way into the highschool and skip the middle school, elementry, and preschool. Soon they are going to have feeder day cares into the preschools! This whole proccess is just so amazing.</p>
<p>They actually already have feeder day cares. There are also certain churches you can become affliated with that give connections to certain preschools.
And yes, these people are enourmously wealthy.</p>