To Give or Not to Give . . . to Your Alma Mater

donate A story in Saturday’s New York Times that looks at the swelling endowments at prep schools caught my eye. It focused on the $1 billion endowment of Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school in Exeter, N.H., where tuition is $36,500 a year.

The endowment, the piece says, allows it to pay the full cost for any student whose family income is less than $75,000. It also has allowed for two swimming pools, two hockey rinks, the largest secondary school library in the world, a cafeteria with made-to-order omelets for breakfast and classes with a typical student-teacher ratio of no more than 12 to one. The reason it can afford all this is because loyal alumni keep on giving.

Exeter isn’t alone: the large endowment and cushy extras reflects a trend at other private high schools and universities these days, the article says. Indeed, the Senate Finance Committee is concerned about the rising cost of higher education and recently requested data from the nations wealthiest colleges on how they spend their endowments.

Whenever I receive fund raising letters from my high school or college, I feel torn. I’m very grateful for my top-notch education. But I also wonder: Haven’t my parents and I given enough to the institutions already, in the form of steep tuition? These days, my husband and I have bills and loans to pay, and our own daughter’s future education to consider. If we do donate money to a cause, we like to give to charities where there’s an urgent need, such as to children’s programs in my husband’s native Colombia. For all the talk of financial aid, much of the fund-raising for private schools is still for buildings and sports programs that help attract students accustomed to comfortable surroundings, the article says.

Several friends, though, warn me not ignore the letters. They always give a token amount themselves, figuring if their children want to attend their alma maters, their parents’ generosity will give them an admissions edge. Indeed, a percentage of students admitted to colleges each year are “legacies,” the children or grandchildren of alumni.

To be sure, many people didn’t to to private high school or college, but some public schools also ask for support. I’m curious to hear from Juggle readers where you weigh on school donations. Do you believe it’s important to give back to the high school or university you attended? If you give, do you have your children’s future application in mind?