Thursday, December 29, 2005

Feel philanthropic toward your school?

An alumni survey sent to me triggered this thought. How many solicitations for funds do alumni get from their schools? I get about two a year from Syracuse University, and I really thought my school was fabulously wealthy with a giant endowment. Now a lot of people know what I thought of my time at SU. There's not a chance in hell that I'd contribute a dime to that institution. Several friends also thought the same about their colleges - they recall tuition increases, and hard times.

Maybe a degree from SU's Newhouse School opens doors for me professionally, but I had strong reservations on how the system worked back then. For me, graduation was something to get done with, and the happy stuff started after then.

The threshold of all good things to come was when I moved to Williamstown, MA early in 1999. Syracuse was to quickly become a memory. Heck, even the winters in Billsville felt better - the snow felt 'cultural', unlike the white stuff in Siber-cuse. The happy times continue.... =)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any endowed school does this. Offer a free tile in your name on the quad.

Anonymous said...

I got them for the last eight years, but suddenly the requests have stopped. I suspect they gave up on me.

Vcat said...

I actually saw several tiles in a square by the quad. They offer to immortalize you for as low as $5000.