Furious about my old college asking for money

[derxa]

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.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

It says in the email to let them know the contact details of any of my fellow students, so that they could make sure everyone was invited. Your Dh's uni may have got his contact details that way.

Leeds2, no, there's absolutely nobody he's still in contact with from that time. We've been married for nearly 35 years so I can be moderately certain! I can only assume that the University of A* is so utterly desperate for money that they have paid some agency to dig really deep through electoral rolls and so forth, attempting to match up the data on names, dates of birth etc etc they have from decades ago to current addresses. Either that or they sent an alumni magazine to everyone of my husband's name in the country and waited to see what happened! (In our case, nothing - it went into the recycling - but they still send it. Odd.)

[ZebraOwl]

I just find it a bit awkward having to explain I'm a Professional Cripple rather than gadding about Fulfillung My Potential... my College phone campaign is very well-run though & it's not a problem to opt out. I've only been phoned twice due to a database issue that wasn't actually their fault & got a very sweet card from the student who rang me when they shouldn't have - I don't mind talking to them but as I can't donate & frankly it's hard not to make my post-uni life sound thoroughly depressing, it feels like it's rather a waste of the students' time.

[BluePheasant]

Had a letter from my uni this week asking if I would make a regular donation. I left over 10 years ago so they must have sent a lot of letters! Really think with the cost of tutition fees these days they should be managing just fine without donations!

[Noodledoodledoo]

Have had them for years, from a Uni which isn't in the Oxbridge set style - not quite North London Poly though.

My trick was when I updated my contact details when I moved I forgot to add in my phone numbers - whoops!

I am not in a position where I have spare funds to be able to afford to donate every month. Yes without them I wouldn't have my current job - but its not a huge paying job compared to some of my fellow alumni who are on 6 figure salaries.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

BluePheasant, universities used to get government funding for teaching undergraduates. Most of that was withdrawn a few years ago and that's why they now have to charge such high fees. It doesn't mean that universities are rolling in it, quite the contrary. Many of them are losing EU funding for research and are likely to lose EU students and academics as well. These are actually tough times for the HE sector.

[Pettywoman]

Mine does this too. I get undergraduates ringing asking what I'm doing and what my amazing career is now and I have to tell them I'm a sahm and my degree was bollocks. They then ask for money and I have to laugh and politely hang up.

The magazine for alumni is worse. So boring it almost offends me.

[ScarlettFreestone]

I don't really understand why you felt "soiled". It's not really any different to being asked to donate to your children's school.

I have degrees from two universities and they've both been calling me for about 20 years.

Just say a polite "no thanks" if you don't want to.

[topcat2014]

I only got a 2:2 - so sod 'em can you tell I'm a bit bitter

[Sara107]

My university does this, but they do write a couple of weeks in advance and to say that if you don't want to chat to a student to email them. I think fund raising is fine, but unsolicited and out of the blue is awkward and can be very unwelcome.

[SomeDyke]

My issue was that I thought it was a call asking for career advice. NOT a begging call. Okay, I may have said okay a while back to current students phoning me, blah, blah, but that was because it was the 'careers advice' bit that caught my eye. Given the number of emails we all get everyday from all and sundry, I didn't have the time to read all the piddly details.

So, I thought it was a career advice call only, and just felt duped when right at the end it turned into a begging call. Okay, call me naive, but the whole experience put me right off. I guess when people phone me in my professional capacity as an academic, I usually assume that their motives are obvious and straightforward (silly me!).

I don't have a problem with letters, you can see what they are and bin them or not as you see fit. It's this piggybacking calls for funds under this cloak of 'can you be nice and helpful to a student' that irks me. I try to be nice to students at my own university or others, so I don't then expect that to turn into a 'give us money' scenario. Well, at least my current students have never demanded money from me (with menaces or otherwise), and vice versa (the uni admin does that and the standard menaces are no money, no results (seems to work!)).

End of rant.

[CasperGutman]

My Oxbridge college has been getting a sizeable chunk of its income from alumni donations for example last 450 year, and they're not likely to stop now. I don't really mind them calling get me. In fact they did it this week. I just said I didn't have any more eye to spare. It wasn't awkward - I'm much better at saying no to beggars, chugged and my alma mater than I used to be!

[MaidOfStars]

My university contacts me every year for donations to the emergency student fund. I thought it was quite normal.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

YY, I agree Some.

When I was a student we were encouraged to do the telephone campaign by someone who told us cheerfully that the old boys really loved to chat and it was great fun, and you should talk to them and liven up their days, and ask for money at the end.

She seemed surprised that some of us had ethical objections to preying on lonely elderly people.

[SenecaFalls]

I probably qualify as elderly, though not lonely. I'm American so am used to receiving solicitations from universities. I really enjoy the once a year call I get from my UK one and I always give something; my education there was a life-changing (in a good way) experience.

[PerspicaciaTick]

My university are in very, very regular contact asking for money. It is usually a phonecall from a current student wanting to chat about your experiences of uni and then asking for money.
I am a perpetual disappointment as my degree hasn't helped me earn anything for years.

[scaryteacher]

As my ds points out, if the Vice Chancellors of the universities weren't getting massive salary increases each year, whilst the pay of the real academics stays static, then one might forgive such an approach.

[ElinorRigby]

I suppose I don't think of it purely as a matter of how much money I made as a result of my degree. (I went to university in an era where I had a grant, and when higher education wasn't seen as a commercial transaction based on shelling out for higher earning potential later.)

The institution - though imperfect - greatly expanded my sense of what was possible both mentally and emotionally, and also provided a means whereby I could start to distance myself from an unhappy childhood. Some of my tutors were kind, and even the clumsier ones were well-intentioned. The financial help I received was at a point when my relations with my family were so poor that I didn't want to go back to them. Staying at university longer meant I had higher accommodation bills which I couldn't afford to pay.

So while fundraising can be a rather cynical exercise, part of me does feel that there was a time when generosity was shown to me. Which begs the question of what should be given back.

[Mulledwine1]

I had a letter saying I would get calls like this. I emailed and said I'd donate as long as they didn't call me.

DH's college used to call too but we could see the number and didn't pick up.

[SeparatedByMotorways]

Furious and soiled seem a bit strong. Alumni fundraising is pretty standard but if you opt-out of the calls they legally have to respect that so you shouldn't need to worry about hearing from them again.

[shovetheholly]

Universities do need extra money, and the donations tend to go to excellent causes, like hardship funds for the poorest students, scholarships to encourage candidates who might not otherwise be able to attend etc. etc. etc.

If you don't want to give, you can just say no.

[zukiecat]

I once had a total stranger knock on my door and ask me to fund him through university

I said No

[OhtoblazeswithElvira]

YABU to be furious and feel soiled. A polite "No thank you" will do.

Nothing weird about educational institutions wanting to maximise their income. Think about that PTA cake stall. Good for them for being proactive.

DH gets a yearly letter asking for money from his old college, detailing all the projects and needs they have. He has never donated he is cheap as anything but that might be different for people who are wealthy, have philanthropic aspirations or want to show charitable donations on their cash return.

Personally I would love to be Lady Bountiful and have a plaque with my name on some new lab blocks or fancy swimming pool but as it happens I have £200 in the world

[R2G]

YABU - you can just say I'm not in a position to donate but enjoyed catching up about the Uni. I think it's a good thing that they are creating alumni communities and - if you can - donate. You may feel that you could leave them a small amount in your will for example.

[heron98]

I work in alumni relations. This is pretty standard. Before I got this job I wouldn't have thought anyone would give, but we have raised millions in the past few years through donations from former students and it's actually a very good cause.

The money goes not only to student scholarships, but to funding vital research. Knowing what I know now I would definitely donate.

[heron98]

Oh, and anyone wondering how you are tracked down - the answer is universities pay companies to find people. Simple as.

The tightening up on data laws will have an impact on this, but so far that's how it's been done.