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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Furious about my old college asking for money

132 replies

derxa · 06/04/2017 19:19

I had a call from someone from my teacher training college asking for money. A very posh young lady called up asking for my experiences after training... asking for advice... blah blah blah. I gave my honest responses fool Eventually she asked for £20 per month for student support. I feel soiled tbh.

OP posts:

scaryclown · 06/04/2017 19:22

What a bitch! Imagine! Asking for you to boost yer legacy! Cheek!

TeenAndTween · 06/04/2017 19:24

YABU. Places are underfunded they need to get money any which way they can.

My old university rings me every year. They try to make it someone who did the same course. We have a little chat and at the end they ask for money. This year I wasn't feeling too well, so I asked please could we skip the chat this year and go straight to the donation bit.

ittooshallpass · 06/04/2017 19:25

Happened to me too. I don't know why these colleges think we're all loaded. £20 per month! FFS. I wish I actually had £20 per month spare!

Original poster

derxa · 06/04/2017 19:30

Tween I know what you mean. However I'm feeling a bit annoyed about teaching atm. She was acting like a scammer.

OP posts:

Electrolens · 06/04/2017 19:31

I understand why they do it and I'm sure they raise much needed fund so this way so don't really object but I hate it too. My college writes to me and tells me the alumni association will be calling (And it's implicitly obvious why) so I screen the calls until they stop. If i pocked up though I'd just say 'no sorry, I can't afford it'. I hate being asked because I can't afford to give but I hope when I can I do. My college hardship fund helped me out.

AddToBasket · 06/04/2017 19:32

Yeah, there's a lot of time wasting. Totally understand, OP, horrible.

Lilyoftheforest · 06/04/2017 19:35

First time I have ever heard this happening to be honest.

Are you sure it was your old college and not a scam?

MakeItStopNeville · 06/04/2017 19:35

We get fundraising calls from dC1s university...that he's still at and we're paying $50k a year for him to go to! I always just say, "Call me in a few years when I've recovered from giving you the money you're already getting!"

gabsdot · 06/04/2017 19:35

My university used to ring me looking for donations. Once i was asked to write a profile of myself since I'd left to publish in the college magazine.
They obviously weren't impressed with my 'career' such as it is and they haven't been in touch since.

Original poster

derxa · 06/04/2017 19:36

Are you sure it was your old college and not a scam? I have no doubt it was genuine.

OP posts:

tiggerkid · 06/04/2017 19:38

My uni doesn't call but they write every single year asking for money. Don't want to help, don't give. What's the issue?

user1955 · 06/04/2017 19:40

Was it a college beginning with H?

Original poster

derxa · 06/04/2017 19:41

Yes user

OP posts:

NotYoda · 06/04/2017 19:42

I get fundraising calls every year from my college.I really enjoy them! Nice young people to chat with. I give money only for specific things support hard-up students mainly.

ConfessorKahlan · 06/04/2017 19:44

Exactly the same thing happened to me recently. Lady from my uni rang and asked about my career after graduation. I spent ages talking to her about what I was doing and how I am still a full tme student as I am doing a post grad qualification. She then asked for a monthly donation to the new medical school they are building on campus. I reiterated that I am a mature post grad student with two teenagers and a mortgage and no way could I afford a donation. Bit of a cheek really.

Asmoto · 06/04/2017 19:44

Unless I actually want to donate, my standard response is that I've already arranged my charitable giving for the year (which is true).

user1955 · 06/04/2017 19:46

They contacted me two years ago, chatted for ages about my career and life post college, all very friendly and lovely. Then hit me for money. I said they could send the debit form, which I never filled in and returned. Then last year they called again and I declined to chat as I needed to go out. This year I'm screening their calls!!!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 06/04/2017 19:47

We started getting these calls about 20 years ago, I think. As far as I can recall, we told them we couldn't afford to give them anything and that we would prefer them to stop calling, and they did. Then they turned down our daughter's application for a place on our old degree course (my husband and I did the same degree, it's how we met) and the chances of them getting any of our money ever plummeted even further.

Universities must be absolutely desperate for money. My husband briefly attended another university (let's call it A) for about six months in the early 70s and then dropped out and worked for a few years before going to the one where we met. At the time he was attending A his permanent address would have been his parents' house in London.

After leaving A, he moved out of his parents' house and in the years since has lived at a variety of addresses all over London. His parents moved out of London and are now dead. He has had no contact whatsoever with A or anyone he'd known there for well over 40 years.

Imagine our surprise, then, when quite recently an alumni magazine from A turned up in the post, correctly addressed to him at our current home. How did they track him down? His name is not quite John Smith but it's certainly not that unusual. And why on earth would they think he would want to send them money? (They very clearly do hope that, because that's what these magazines are for.)

capercaillie · 06/04/2017 19:47

Unfortunately the last time I got called, the student got a rather forthright bit of advice about career breaks and the impact on personal income...

LRDtheFeministDragon · 06/04/2017 19:48

For my sins, I went to three universities which all ask for dosh.

One of them was actively shitty towards me, and still has the nerve to ring up, including badgering my parents.

It does infuriate me. You don't owe people donations.

ElinorRigby · 06/04/2017 19:49

I get these calls.

When I was a student I received help from a fund designed to help young people who were in difficulty - often because their parents couldn't support them. This made a lot of difference to me

In recent years I have given some fairly modest support to this fund after getting calls, as it does feel right to pay something back.

daisypond · 06/04/2017 19:51

I get them every year from my university. I thought all universities did this, if they've got your details somewhere.

Spoog1971xx · 06/04/2017 19:53

Is this Barts by any chance? I'm furious and have emailed a conplaint. Even if I did want to give I'd hardly give my details out over the phone

TisMeTheLadFromTheBar · 06/04/2017 19:55

Tell her the cheque is in the post

LRDtheFeministDragon · 06/04/2017 19:55

Elinor - I totally understand why you'd feel that way, but it never fails to annoy me that sanctimonious cold-callers lecture me on how much support college x or university y provides, and which I 'surely' benefitted from. I can't help feeling that if you wanted to donate, you would know!

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