The Lack of Financial Contributions to Colleges by Alumni In order for an institution or any project at hand to be successful, support being extended and provided by people around is essential. Support being extended is the driving force that builds the confidence of the people of a particular institution. It gives the institution the boost needed by its people especially during challenging times. Furthermore, the support acquired is a manifestation that an institution has provided people with great benefits through its services. People are also confident to the vision and promises that the organization brings, thus support is given. It is an indication that the organization is doing a fine job and in return it restores the institution’s self esteem since support indicates that the said institution is worth supporting. The support being extended could either be morally or monetary, through funds. Universities, college campuses and schools are examples of institutions that benefit from the support being extended, more especially they need financial support. Financial supports are given to school through the school’s Alumni Association. The help the Alumni Association provides generate a major source of fund for a particular school to use. With the aid of the school alumni association missing, the school may find it difficult to maintain the service it provides because of lack of funding. Contributions are needed for various reasons. Operating an institution such as schools and campuses is not a simple task. The welfare of the students should always be protected and put on priority. So, it is important that facilities students’ uses are up to date. Students should be provided with the best equipments the school can offer from books to classrooms and laboratory equipments. They should also be provided with good teachers and lecturers as well. All in all, school staffs should be of premium caliber to provide quality services. However, in order to manage and maintain such environment, huge sum of money is needed. Renovation of old buildings and construction of new facilities would cost hundred of thousands up to millions of dollars. Salaries of personnel especially the various instructors with their different field s of expertise would also require a large amount of money. With the huge amount of money involved, it is fitting then to know how does the school board generate such amount and where does the board acquire the needed amount to continue the operation of the school. Considering that the situations mentioned above are just two mediums of how school funds are expended and yet it already require a large sum. Schools can not just rely on tuition fees paid by students during registration period and enrollment process. If they would only rely on fees and payments made by students, the school then would have to charge a very expensive rate. To fully understand this matter, consider a school budget of 6 million dollars, which includes renovation of old facilities, construction of new ones, teachers and personnel salaries, students financial aids, boarding programs and various school extra­curricular activities. Also, consider that the population of the said school is around 560 students, which included the scholars. By doing a simple calculation, we can deduced that the school administration must then charge $11, 000 per student in order to assure the continuous operation of the school all year round. However the amount could not possibly be charged to the students. Instead a smaller amount of around $6,000 is collected as tuition fees. Plus, scholar students are charged less than the said amount, and often times they are free of charge. Thus, only a small portion of the school’s budget is obtained from the students fees and the remaining amount are provided from different sources. From the different sources, the school’s alumni association is a major source. The organization is established with a single purpose to provide and extend support for their alma mater especially with financial issues. However, it can be seen that through the years lack of support from various alumni association is being shown. It will be noted that for several schools, major financial contributions are made by different corporations and foundations. This occur because, foundations and corporations are more stable financially compare with the different alumni, who tends to wait to be on top of their career before providing large donations. Corporations and foundation donations contribute heavily to the school budget, in order to help less fortunate students through student assistance program. On the other hand it is understandable why some alumni delay their contributions and the help they can offer to their alma mater. They patiently wait, for the time they will be on top of their careers, maybe at age 40 at least. This is done because they want to provide a “grand gift” for the school. He wants to give a very respectable amount that would make him a household name around the alumni association and the school itself. By making such kind of donation he can also announce how successful he has been. Little do they know that the school needs every contribution it can gain every year. Plus, even though the amount donated varies, the act delivers the same message. It provides morale boost to the school. Any gift from a dime to a million dollar is a gift worth treasuring. Alumni should not deprive their alma mater the support the school badly needed. They should proudly give whatever their present income allowed them to contribute. They should not loose interest and get tired of providing the much needed help for their school. The school’s alumni association should be in the forefront of raising funds for the school. They should devise schemes and activities that will help the school generate funds. Alumni should always make themselves available for contact and in case of emergencies the school can seek for their help. Alumni should be grateful enough to their alma mater and return the favor the school has done for him back when they were still students. The teachings, their values and what they are today and what they have achieved can be attributed to the school or university they have attended. Without the help from their alumni, schools greatly suffer.