Since this is a big topic today I though I would take a moment to address some of the different things brought up on this board on the subject.

I've heard multiple times that the problem for VT is that the alumni base that is currently at the stage of their careers where they have the income to give is small. People aged 45-60 enrollment was much smaller then and a large portion of our living alumni are younger and as this generation comes to age we will fall in line with other schools.

This thought process I believe is horribly wrong. As a 2011 graduate MOST of my classmates (non rotc scholarship) graduated with some form of student loans. Most of the people I have asked fall somewhere between $20-40k and pay somewhere between 150-300 a month for their student loans. Time and time again I have heard young alumni scoff when called to make a donation and time and time again I hear I make a $x a month "donation" now.

I believe that the now semi ridiculous costs of attendance combined with 15-25 years worth of payments will leave a very sour financial taste in my generations mouth when it comes to donating to schools across the board.

We have created an ever growing academic and athletic "corporation" that continues to grow and become more costly to operate. Tying butts to seats as your "incentive" to donate just further alienates this coming generation. It is easier than ever for us to watch legally or illegally any college media that we would like so making it another financial burden for us to attend a game pushes us farther away. I also believe its fairly easy to generalize that those alumni you can get back on campus are more likely to donate.

Overall I just see a financial storm coming for Universities across the country.... something is going to change....it has to.

Sorry for the rambling and inevitable poor spelling and grammar! Just some thoughts I felt compelled to share!