Morgan's Musings

2/3/08 - no time :)

So, I read in an article not too long ago that Fisk University was so low on funds, they were selling their collection of Georgia O'keefe works! Very surprising, and perhaps a prognostication of what could happen to other learning institutions--perhaps my own alma mata--should they not receive enough donations.

You see, about a couple days before I read the article, a fundraiser from UMBC called and asked for a donation, or a pledge atleast. He understood that having graduated in May that I probably wouldn't be giving $500 or $100 right now, so we settled on a pledge under $50 that was about the average for new grads. I will likely donate half that amount, as I learned in my sales experience that things like money requests are exaggerated by a factor of two oftentimes. This is so if one has second thoughts, and only gives half of that exaggeration, the receiver is still on target.

Anyway, the more funds a school had, the more research they could do, and the more prestigious a degree issued from the school became because of such quality programs. Without the money, it would be a reverse cycle, vicious in how lower enrollment caused by less prestige would continue to provide diminishing returns.

So I wondered: could a university go "out of business"?

It would be unlikely for a state-school like UMBC, with some funding from the state ; however, a private school like Fisk would have bleaker odds. Still, it would be unprecedented as far as I know--it's not like there are dozens of shuttered campuses out there, their quads overgrown with weeds and libraries boarded up. But Fisk is probably dangerously close to that.

Even if I was to give to Umm-buck for prestige rather than for its survival, I read in another article it wouldn't necessarily benefit undergrads. As stated before, it's the research that makes Yale and Harvard world-reknowned. Research done by graduatestudents. Professors do this as well, so other faculty, even teachers' aides would be teaching the freshmen. Now I see the wise reasoning as to why some of the smartest graduates of my high school chose to avoid large, prestigious institutions!

So, perhaps I am doing UMBC a favor by not giving them so much that they lose sight of their purpose!

But I will probably give enough so they don't have to pawn off their prized comic-book collection . :)

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