Author Topic: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!  (Read 4349 times)

penguintroopers

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Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« on: October 10, 2017, 07:11:31 PM »
Got an email a few days back from my alma matter asking for donations. If you pay $16.67/mo over 60 months, you amass a donation of $1000!

While I think the school is pretty great and all, and we probably will donate some amount to something once we have our student loans paid off, we will never donate anything higher than the amount of cash currently in our hands.

Thinking that people would actually do that is just beyond me.

Roe

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2017, 07:04:14 AM »
Wouldn't that be a donation of cash currently in ones hands? Unless you lack 16.67 a given month, ofcourse.

Or is it set up like taking on a $1000 debt?

SecondBreakfast

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2017, 07:11:18 AM »
we probably will donate some amount to something once we have our student loans paid off

Forget the $1000 over 5 years thing, this is weird enough alone! I guess it's a normal thing where you come from, but to me that's like going to the shops, paying, going home, then going back to the shops just to give them an extra $100 to thank them for handling your business.

vivophoenix

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2017, 09:29:56 AM »
I fail to see the joke

they are asking people to donate 16 bucks a month, a mentally small number so that they can get recurring donations. frequently, funding from other sources is dependant on a certain level of alumni giving or participation. so they are trying to sustain fives years of giving in payments small enough that people probably won't notice.


my school was founded in 1866, so i donate 18.66 every month and they love it.

older alums give 186.60
 they ask current students to give 1.87

MgoSam

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2017, 10:54:13 AM »
we probably will donate some amount to something once we have our student loans paid off

Forget the $1000 over 5 years thing, this is weird enough alone! I guess it's a normal thing where you come from, but to me that's like going to the shops, paying, going home, then going back to the shops just to give them an extra $100 to thank them for handling your business.

Yup, the only money that my alma mater will be getting is in the form of buying apparel and other licensed products. Though to be fair I haven't bought anything since before I graduated even though my school signed a deal with Nike and their new football jerseys look amazing. I don't feel any urge to spend $60+ anymore (I have 2 jerseys from when I did go to school that I will continue to wear).

penguintroopers

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2017, 05:57:53 PM »
we probably will donate some amount to something once we have our student loans paid off

Forget the $1000 over 5 years thing, this is weird enough alone! I guess it's a normal thing where you come from, but to me that's like going to the shops, paying, going home, then going back to the shops just to give them an extra $100 to thank them for handling your business.

We both benefited from scholarships that were made possible via alumni donations. Its kinda like a group of people older than you baking you a cake, you taking a slice, and when you're asked to give some eggs to make the next cake for the next group that needs it you refuse.

penguintroopers

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2017, 05:58:39 PM »
Wouldn't that be a donation of cash currently in ones hands? Unless you lack 16.67 a given month, ofcourse.

Or is it set up like taking on a $1000 debt?

Pretty sure they're setting it up to be a $1000 debt. At least that's what it read like to me.

solon

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2017, 09:08:26 PM »
I fail to see the joke

they are asking people to donate 16 bucks a month, a mentally small number so that they can get recurring donations. frequently, funding from other sources is dependant on a certain level of alumni giving or participation. so they are trying to sustain fives years of giving in payments small enough that people probably won't notice.


my school was founded in 1866, so i donate 18.66 every month and they love it.

older alums give 186.60
 they ask current students to give 1.87

Are you a Buffalo, by any chance?

penguintroopers

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2017, 05:27:32 AM »
I fail to see the joke

they are asking people to donate 16 bucks a month, a mentally small number so that they can get recurring donations. frequently, funding from other sources is dependant on a certain level of alumni giving or participation. so they are trying to sustain fives years of giving in payments small enough that people probably won't notice.


my school was founded in 1866, so i donate 18.66 every month and they love it.

older alums give 186.60
 they ask current students to give 1.87

Are you a Buffalo, by any chance?

Close, bison. School wasn't founded in 1866 though, so it's probably not the same school.

talltexan

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #9 on: October 12, 2017, 07:27:29 AM »
I married a CU Buffalo. She's cool with not donating to them!

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2017, 08:53:54 AM »
we probably will donate some amount to something once we have our student loans paid off

Forget the $1000 over 5 years thing, this is weird enough alone! I guess it's a normal thing where you come from, but to me that's like going to the shops, paying, going home, then going back to the shops just to give them an extra $100 to thank them for handling your business.

We both benefited from scholarships that were made possible via alumni donations. Its kinda like a group of people older than you baking you a cake, you taking a slice, and when you're asked to give some eggs to make the next cake for the next group that needs it you refuse.

This contextualizes the situation in a totally different way: you received benefit from the alma mater in a way that goes far beyond the exchange of education for money that is the norm for most people. It seems reasonable to me to want to pay it forward and to feel a moral duty to do so.

By contrast, I had a miserable time working my way through undergrad and paying my way for a degree that, frankly, has yet to pay for itself. Until I left the country and got off the mailing lists I received guilt-tripping calls, mail, and newsletters shilling for more donations from the school where I did that first liberal arts undergrad degree. My STEM undergrad degree school, by contrast, has never hit me up for a cent after graduation.

Raenia

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #11 on: October 12, 2017, 09:17:51 AM »
we probably will donate some amount to something once we have our student loans paid off

Forget the $1000 over 5 years thing, this is weird enough alone! I guess it's a normal thing where you come from, but to me that's like going to the shops, paying, going home, then going back to the shops just to give them an extra $100 to thank them for handling your business.

We both benefited from scholarships that were made possible via alumni donations. Its kinda like a group of people older than you baking you a cake, you taking a slice, and when you're asked to give some eggs to make the next cake for the next group that needs it you refuse.

This contextualizes the situation in a totally different way: you received benefit from the alma mater in a way that goes far beyond the exchange of education for money that is the norm for most people. It seems reasonable to me to want to pay it forward and to feel a moral duty to do so.

By contrast, I had a miserable time working my way through undergrad and paying my way for a degree that, frankly, has yet to pay for itself. Until I left the country and got off the mailing lists I received guilt-tripping calls, mail, and newsletters shilling for more donations from the school where I did that first liberal arts undergrad degree. My STEM undergrad degree school, by contrast, has never hit me up for a cent after graduation.

My experience was more like penguintroopers - both my partner and I received partial scholarships from the college, which were funded by donors, particularly alumni.  Those scholarships allowed both of us to graduate without loans, which has been invaluable for both of us.  Since we both had a very good experience at the school, I do plan to eventually add them to my annual donation list and pay forward the benefit I received.  I think it depends a lot on what kind of school you went to - private collages are more likely to rely on donations to provide scholarships, vs state schools that have federal funding available - and on the specifics of the school and your situation.  I definitely know people even at my alma mater that have vowed never to donate, because they didn't have a good experience.

vivophoenix

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2017, 01:03:45 PM »
I fail to see the joke

they are asking people to donate 16 bucks a month, a mentally small number so that they can get recurring donations. frequently, funding from other sources is dependant on a certain level of alumni giving or participation. so they are trying to sustain fives years of giving in payments small enough that people probably won't notice.


my school was founded in 1866, so i donate 18.66 every month and they love it.

older alums give 186.60
 they ask current students to give 1.87

Are you a Buffalo, by any chance?

Close, bison. School wasn't founded in 1866 though, so it's probably not the same school.
attended neither of those schools.

that's fine if you don't want to donate
and that's fine if someone people hated their alma mater
but i don't get mocking their request for donations for five years

PoutineLover

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2017, 01:19:16 PM »
I'm not opposed to donating to my university, but I'm not at the point in my life where I can afford to give large donations and I don't really want to set up recurring donations. When they call I usually give 20 bucks, and I plan on increasing that over time as I get more financially secure. I benefited from scholarships so usually I direct my money to that, as a way of paying it forward. I would like to set up a scholarship fund when I die, but that's wayyyy off (hopefully).

Just Joe

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Re: Your $1000 gift could be just $16.67/mo for 60 months!
« Reply #14 on: October 15, 2017, 01:04:40 PM »
I volunteer my time for my alumni in lieu of money.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!