Donating to Marquette

[Henry Sugar]

Okay, it's the holiday season, and my wife and I were reviewing our charity budget.  One of the items on our list is a donation to our alma mater.

Anyways, last year I donated to the College of Engineering.  Previously, I thought I had heard that an increase in the endowment is a great way to raise the prestige of the university.  Therefore, this year I asked the student who called, "which one helps our endowment?", and was pointed towards the Marquette fund.

However, there appear to be all kinds of different options to give, so I was curious to know what other people considered when making donations to Marquette and why.

http://www.marquette.edu/giving/givingoptions.shtml

PS - First person to say "I donated my tuition money for four years" loses.  I'm not all that interested in why people DON'T donate, but why they DO donate

[jce]

I am "in the donation business" at another university.  I know what kind of impact donations can have.  I also received a partial scholarship to MU during my last three years and I feel obligated to help.  My wife and I give a modest donation, about 1/3 of which goes to the Blue and Gold Fund, and 2/3 to the Marquette Fund.

By the way, the Marquette Fund as I recall has nothing to do with the endowment.  The endowment is a series of accounts where you only use the annual earnings off of the original donation...the original donation cannot be spent.  The Marquette Fund is basically an unrestricted, current-use account.  It goes to the University's general budget, although it may be earmarked for certain projects by the BoT.

[muwarrior87]

I'd stick with the donation to the College of Engineering. Maybe you can rangle up some others and get the new building named after you. The Henry Sugar and Friends Hall.

[mu_hilltopper]

I'd be curious to see a breakdown of those who are season ticket holders, and what portion of their dough goes to the Blue/Gold fund.

I'm a greedy SOB, so send my $ to the B&G so I can get points, and (at least) tread water with where my seats are.

[JSwarriors08]

Although I am still only a senior here at Marquette, the calls from University Advancement have already started with our senior challenge.  I enjoy giving to Marquette because I worked with UA over the summer and heard some ridiculous statistics.  The one that shocked me the most was that tuition only covers about 60% of what it actually costs to educate a student at Marquette.  The other 40% is completely dependent upon alumni donations.

Thus, when people say that they've already paid their dues, I feel obligated to inform them that they actually have not.  This gives me a great sense of gratitude toward the alumni whose donations have aided in my education, a sense of obligation toward Marquette's future student body, and a particular annoyance at those alumni who would yell at me or hang up on me when I called them to raise support.

[reinko]

I give to the Scholars Fund.  It supports financial aid and scholarships of undergrad students.  I am a little biased because I work in financial aid, but I know the impact that institutional scholarships and grants can have on kids decisions to attend college.

[gjreda]

I plan on giving to whatever fund is associated with the endowment.  There's clearly a strong correlation between prestige and endowment but, as always, correlation doesn't mean causality.  I still would like to see MU get close to that $1 billion mark Wild said he was shooting for.

[mu_hilltopper]

The one that shocked me the most was that tuition only covers about 60% of what it actually costs to educate a student at Marquette.  The other 40% is completely dependent upon alumni donations.

Whoa .. So .. if tuition costs $29k, and that's only 60% of the cost then the "real" cost to educate a student for 9 months is $48,000 at MU? 

If true, that's absurd.

For the last couple nights on the NewsHour, they've done a two parter on college costs.  They interviewed a president of some public New Jersey school, that'd borrowed about $300m.  $100m for dorms, $100m for a rec center, and $100m for classroom buildings.

When reminded that the cost of tuition was pushing some kids completely out of college, and asked if $100m for a rec center was a smart idea, the president defended the spending "These kids deserve a place to work out, and do aerobics."  What a major disconnect. 

Sorry for the mild thread jacking.  But .. donations to endowments bother me, in that, one consequence is that it allows tuition rates to expand far, far beyond the means of the actual students in attendance.   $48k per 9 months is just pure lunacy.  -- All universities, especially private ones, should immediately begin doing major cost controls, as they are rapidly pricing themselves out of reality.

[jce]

Whoa .. So .. if tuition costs $29k, and that's only 60% of the cost then the "real" cost to educate a student for 9 months is $48,000 at MU? 

If true, that's absurd.

I think they must be including items like building and equipment depreciation and other such fixed costs in that figure.  And since most, if not all, of the buildings are funded with donations, they can use that figure and get away with it.  The variable cost of a student attending is no where near $48,000.  It is probably a quarter of that.

[Rollout-the-Barrel]

It is scary the number of kids likely to get "priced out" of schools bc of  tuition and other college costs.  My small donation in past has been split in half to the PT department and MU fund.

[77ncaachamps]

I would consider donating yearly, but my company doesn't match.

[mu_hilltopper]

I would consider donating yearly, but my company doesn't match.

Right .. I forgot there's a rule that says you can't donate without a company match.

[JSwarriors08]

I would consider donating yearly, but my company doesn't match.

Great reason.  Your donation is effectively meaningless without a match.  Marquette doesn't need the money anyway!