An editorial recently appeared in The Dartmouth regarding the subject of giving to Dartmouth ["My 98 Cents Worth," Jan. 23]. The columnist seemed to conclude that it is a noble choice to not support the students who come after him. In addition, he seemed to suggest that the idea of giving anything else to Dartmouth after four years of tuition, fees and unfair fines is ludicrous.
But these conclusions seem to have been reached without a thorough understanding of key issues. And they disparage the alumni, parents, friends, corporations and foundations who gave charitably over $100 million to Dartmouth last year. The irony lies in the fact that the target of his criticism, principally the Alumni Fund, is actually responsible for keeping Dartmouth as affordable as possible. You might wonder: if Dartmouth charges $28,000 a year for tuition and already has $1.2 billion dollars in the bank, then why does it need more money? The answer is that maintaining the high quality of the Dartmouth experience is expensive. The tuition you pay only covers about half of the actual cost to educate you, even if you are paying the whole bill. If you're on aid, it helps even more. In fact, two-thirds of the financial aid budget comes from the Alumni Fund.
This is nothing new. Since about 1915, alumni have been giving every year to help students today as the alumni before them did the same. Alumni Fund dollars are unrestricted and current use, meaning they are used where needed and right away for instruction, athletics, libraries, the Hopkins Center and the Hood, computer services and virtually everywhere.
While a $1.2 billion endowment looks good on paper, there is no room in Parkhurst with tall piles of hoarded gold. The endowment is Dartmouth's insurance policy for the future, of which we only use about five percent of the interest earned every year. It is expertly invested and managed, so the five percent Dartmouth does use is still an impressive amount. But it has nothing to do with the Alumni Fund, and not one penny of Alumni Fund dollars goes to the endowment.
There has been plenty of criticism recently of the rising costs of higher education (and not just at Dartmouth). And you could debate forever the value of your education in terms of future income, personal enrichment, the best value for your money, etc. But the staff and alumni volunteers who work for the Alumni Fund are probably not qualified to reconcile the dollar value of a faculty member or a student center in terms of what return you are getting on the tuition you pay. Our job is to provide 10 to 15 percent of the operating budget this year, which otherwise would mean an additional $4,000 in tuition per student. We need to make sure that students with more talent and ability than financial resources will not be denied the opportunity to come to Dartmouth.
The bottom line is that the Alumni Fund is about people. Students. Not about bureaucrats or fees or parking tickets or even about ways to voice dissent about the parts of the Dartmouth experience that are unsatisfying for you. Should every administrator, faculty and staff member at Dartmouth endeavor to make Dartmouth positive and less bureaucratic for students? Absolutely. Should we all constantly examine the subject of controlling costs and increasing value? You bet. But those issues do little to address the more immediate subject of how much money from the Alumni Fund will be required to meet the needs of thousands of students this year.
No one is obligated to make charitable gifts to Dartmouth after they graduate. It is a personal choice. Each student who leaves here has, in his or her four years, received the benefits of many thousands of dollars in charitable support from alumni. But no one is asking for anything in return, other than consideration of what Dartmouth has meant to you and whether or not you are willing to help others that follow. There are certainly many other causes worth your support, including athletic clubs, Greek houses, affinity groups and thousands of organizations outside of Dartmouth. But a decision to support the Alumni Fund is a choice to strengthen Dartmouth. As one past Dartmouth president said, it is a testament that what you experienced here was good and that others should know the same experience.
In several weeks, as the '98s make the transition from student life to the "real world" of alumni, they will be asked by their fellow classmates to consider supporting the Alumni Fund after they graduate. I hope they will consider how Dartmouth and its alumni have helped them. The '99s, '00s, '01s and the classes that come after them are worth the same support.
