Being a graduate of RPI and now a grad student puts me in an interesting position at times. I find myself saying a little too often "Well, when I was an undergrad …" and appropriately laughed back to the present. Sometimes I think I just have been here too long. But it also means that I have both current and former students as friends and hear both what is going on on campus and with the alumni.
One of the other joys is that while paying my RPI bills, I also receive solicitations from the Annual Fund to support RPI as an alum. The Annual Fund is important to the running of the ‘Tute. Without the donations from our alumni, our tuition bills, in general, would be higher and our support packages would be lower. For this reason alone, I don’t mind getting the calls and mailings and having to explain that I am still a student.
What does bother me, however, is the vagueness of the options for where I can have my donation directed. For many, donations to the general scholarship fund or undergraduate academics are fine, but I and other alumni would like more specific options.
I would like to see a little more flexibility in what donations can be made to. The three main categories I would like to see added are general categories for the Union, for the academic departments, and for the dorms. I have heard from many alumni that while they are not inclined to donate to the general operating fund of the ‘Tute, they would make a donation to one of these out of loyalty, nostalgia, or a perceived need.
For example, money could be collected for dorm renovations and tallied by class. If one class made a certain mark for donations from that class, then a wing or a floor could be designated as a gift from that class. The departments could perhaps do the same with the purchase of a piece of equipment or setting up a scholarship for a deserving student in the department. And in the Union, with the renovations still being paid for, the number of clubs increasing, and the proposed athletic infrastructure improvements, the money would be put to good use.
If these options do exist, and I and many others are ignorant, it should be more prominently explained. If not, it should be seriously considered even though it would potentially mean hiring other people to handle the more complex situation. Don’t wait until the alumni are nostalgic about their alma mater to make donations. Give them the options they are asking for.
