Amid Cuts, Public Colleges Step Up Appeals to Alumni

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

As state legislatures cut back support for higher education, public colleges and universities across the country are turning to their alumni, hat in hand, as never before — hiring consultants, hunting down graduates and mobilizing student phone banks to raise private money in amounts they once thought impossible.

But many find themselves arriving late to the game, particularly in the Northeast, where state governments have traditionally been generous and a host of private colleges have dominated the quest for donations.

The rush to catch up has placed public campuses in an awkward stance: cutting academic programs and instructors at the same time they are expanding development staffs and investing in a fund-raising infrastructure. And for some, the challenges run far deeper than honing their sales pitches.

A culture of class reunions and identification with one’s graduating class — the ethos of belonging and giving back that has been ingrained at many private colleges for generations — is less developed at most public universities. While there are exceptions, alumni networks at public universities are not quite as deep-pocketed as those in the private sphere.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/education/16college.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

[bluestateguy]

1. It's hard to get alumni to donate for simple routine operating expenses

Well heeled alumni want to donate to fund silly little pet projects (new statues, art galleries, or superfluous new buildings) that in the end don't benefit a whole lot of people or cover day to day operating expenses.

As in the electric bills, maintenance costs and salaries and benefits for employees. It's not as glamorous and sexy as a new athletic center, but those bills have to be paid.

[BlueIris]

2. Strangely, my university, which is notorious for being truly callous WRT its fundraising

strategies, hasn't called to harass me in years. Odd.