In Wake of State Aid Cuts, Public Colleges Appeal to their Alumni

Sometimes for the first time, public colleges are reaching out to their alumni due to drastic funding cuts imposed by state legislatures. The reaction in some cases has been less than warm. In contrast to private colleges, many of which have an established culture of belonging and giving back, with rare exceptions (like the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Michigan) public colleges have not developed in their alumni a desire to contribute to the school. For example, SUNY-Geneseo surveyed its alumni and found that many had deep feelings for the school; however, when asked to contribute, the reaction was silence: many thought that the State of New York funded the school entirely, while in reality the state contribution was only 25% of costs, and dropping. In some cases, alumni do not want to be seen as a source to make up for a lack of funding from the state for things like maintaining the infrastructure, but want to actually make a difference. Fund raising is now becoming big business at public colleges, and based on the level of state funding, this is a change that will likely last.