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This. A guy donates an engineering complex, and every engineering student on that campus gets to take advantage of said complex and its resources. Guy donates
by bilbo0s 8y ago
This.
A guy donates an engineering complex, and every engineering student on that campus gets to take advantage of said complex and its resources. Guy donates a new business school building and every student on that campus can take advantage of said building and its resources. In exchange, the university lets in two girls, their daughters or whatever, who might want to major in Art History and French, and coincidentally will likely be inheriting a few hundred million to upwards of a billion dollars in the future. (Future donors.)
It's a fair trade. I'm not wealthy on that level, but if I were calling the shots at a university I'd make that trade every time.
- lotsofpulp 8y agoThen the university should advertise the cost of admission and make it fair for everyone.
- temporalparts 8y agoI think it is well known that anyone can donate a building for easy admission. It is no secret, just something available to only the top 0.1%
- wyldfire 8y ago> It is no secret It sounds like you agree, then? It should be public.
- auntienomen 8y agoIt is public. Universities almost always include the donation size when they put out press releases about the new building.
- cm2187 8y agoAnd usually the building bears the name of the donor!
- extra88 8y agoOften they take the classy move and name it after a relative, often a parent. Harvard's Maxwell-Dworkin building got that name because those are the maiden names of Bill Gates's and Steve Ballmer's moms.
- michaelt 8y agoBut very rarely how many of the donor's family they lowered admission standards for, and by how much.
- fossuser 8y agoIt isn't public - none of these universities publicly say, "You can donate 2 million and we'll let your kid in". Which was the amount at Stanford in 2012 (at least based on what someone I met working in admissions told me). It's left unsaid because it's better for the brand to pretend that this isn't a thing and that just because your parents gave money or because your parents are famous doesn't mean they'll let you in.
- mhb 8y agoNot sure that would help. New tuiton - $2M and 99% of students get grants of $1.930M
- hopler 8y agoThe difference is that today colleges lie about having "need-blind" admissions. Among the Ivies only Brown openly admits that you can buy your way in.
- trhway 8y ago> Then the university should advertise the cost of admission and make it fair for everyone. if you have to ask for price ... :)
- 420codebro 8y ago... then you’re not an insanely rich douche?
- hopler 8y agoOddly sexist example but OK.
- strikelaserclaw 8y agoif you put a gun to my head and asked me "Rich parents donated 2 million dollars to get their daughter into Harvard, what is her major?" I would say "Arts/Language/Social" every time. If it was a male, i would say "Business/political science" without fail.
- michaelt 8y agoI were calling the shots at a university I'd make that trade every time. Me too. But would you be proud enough of the policy to publicise it and your price list? Because I'd do it, but I'd also be embarrassed I was doing it.
- woah 8y agoWhat? The building is an asset of the university. They can charge more because they have it. It is not a donation to the students.
- mpweiher 8y agoIf that's a reasonable proposition within the system, maybe the system is broken? Also, in the interest of truth-in-advertising, shouldn't the institutions that practice this not have to rename themselves from "university" or "college" to "degree supermarket"?