SMU first-year Tom Landers has only been a college student for over a month, but he’s already racked up an impressive bill.
Tuition, fees and room and board for Southern Methodist University make it one of the most expensive schools in the country, costing students more than $60,500. This doesn’t include the hundreds of dollars students must spend on required textbooks or money for food.
However, less than 30 days into the school year, Landers has already been solicited multiple times for donations.
Thinking about giving even more money to the university makes Landers laugh.
“SMU doesn’t need the money,” he said. “Also, I’m just broke.”
SMU began targeting underclassmen like Landers shortly after the semester began in its search for donations through the Residential Commons Challenge. The RC Challenge is a 10-day long competition held in mid-September among the 11 Residential Commons, which mainly house freshmen and sophomore students. The Commons with the largest percentage of students who donate to any area of SMU are awarded with free Pokey-O ice cream sandwiches, a photo with President Turner and 25 RC Cup points.
Areas that students can donate to include the Student Affairs Fund, the Parent Fund and funds for each of the colleges within the university.
Annual and Alumni Giving Officer Ben Williams from SMU’s Development and Alumni Affairs department is in charge of encouraging donations from students. He said his department has two major objectives.
The department aims to “educate students on the impact giving has on their education and to offer them the opportunity to participate in SMU’s culture of philanthropy,” Williams said.
This year, Williams hopes to get 1,000 SMU students to make a gift to the university. Donations can be as little as $5. Through the RC Commons Challenge, 274 SMU students made donations, which Williams calls “a tremendous success.”
First-year Darren Poon was one of the students who donated to SMU through the RC Commons Challenge. After receiving an email that encouraged students to donate, Poon said he gave a gift to support Crum, his Residential Common.
However, some students are not happy with the solicitations. They say they have given the university enough money through pricey tuitions and do not plan on giving the university even more.
Alex Estopinal, a resident from Ware Commons is another first-year who has been targeted to donate. Estopinal says he has not made a donation yet, nor does he have any plans to.
As the most expensive university in Texas, SMU already requires students to make a significant financial investment. And, with most of his allowance money going toward extra food and textbooks, Estopinal says he doesn’t have any leftover money for donations.
“Tuition here is pretty high,” he said. “The only reason I’m here is because I’m on scholarship. We’re paying that much, why do they need our students to donate?”
Williams says that the Alumni Affairs Office understands that SMU is a big financial commitment, and recognizes that students may be reluctant to give back to the university. However, he hopes that students will consider the effect that donating can have on the university.
“SMU could not operate without the giving of others. Each year, thousands of SMU alumni, friends, parents, faculty, staff and students give back to the university,” he said. “We believe that educating students on the impact giving has on their education is very important.”
The importance of donating to the university is especially significant for alumni, as the US News & World Report uses the percentage of alumni giving to help determine annual rankings.
The 2014-15 school year is the last opportunity for the university to set a new record for alumni giving through its Second Century Campaign. The campaign was launched in September 2008 to raise money for improvements to infrastructure, scholarships, research and faculty positions. Because gift giving improves SMU’s national rankings, the value of an SMU degree also increases. SMU currently has an endowment of more than $1 billion.
While Development and Alumni Affairs has been working to generate donations directly from students, it has also recruited Commons RA’s to encourage their residents to donate.
Emails have been sent to Commons RA’s, promising an incentive of two free basketball tickets to the RAs that get the highest percentage of their students to donate. Jamie Hinz, a Ware RA, said she received three emails over the course of two days, reminding her to encourage her residents to donate.
The emails Hinz has been asked to forward to residents employ language purposely used to encourage more donations. One email enthusiastically tells Hinz and her residents to “Help Ware Win!” while another says, “Ware needs you to help win the Residential Commons Challenge.”
RAs have also directly approached residents to solicit donations. Landers said that his view on making donations had been shaped after an exchange with his RA.
“My RA told me to basically pay to win points for Crum, is how she described it,” Landers said, who decided he would not donate.
While the RC Challenge ended in mid-September, students will have plenty of other chances to donate to the university. Other opportunities include a similar competition that will take place during homecoming week, along with a brunch hosted by President Turner for graduating seniors who give a gift to the university.
