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Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8
BTW--someone mentioned where their "smile" money went to. FWIW--my paltry amount goes to a very small college that I went to, a few decades ago. When I was a student there, donations to them are not as high as they are now (for reasons that I won't get into here); now, however, they seem to be much better funded. But colleges always seem to need more money, even the ones that have huge endowments.  |
One of the college administrators at my alma mater explained it as private colleges and universities often have capital expenditures that require some borrowing. The lenders look to see what percentage of the alumni donate, and they loan at lower rates to the institutions which have a larger percentage of alumni who donate. The presumption is that if the institution falls on hard times, and needs money to pay off the loan, they're likely to get it if a large percentage of the alumni already have a history of giving. Therefore, while the institutions always try to get you to donate more, they'd rather see you give a pittance, like $10, than nothing at all.