Students donate more than $400,000 to MU fundraiser
The MU Student Foundation provides scholarships for working students.
Published Jan. 26, 2007
Although many consider tuition expensive enough, some students and their parents are able and willing to donate to MU.
Students have donated more than $400,000 of the $750 million collected through the For All We Call Mizzou campaign. One influential reason for that has been the MU Student Foundation.
The foundation serves as the student representative for the Office of Development. According to the campaign Web site, "One of the Office of Development's most important functions is to keep alumni and supporters connected to MU and to each other."
The Student Foundation helps students in the same way.
"The Mizzou Student Foundation serves as a link between Mizzou's Office of Development and the student body, educating current MU students about the importance of charitable giving to MU and preparing them to become regular contributors to the university," Development Director for Student Affairs Terri Gray said. "In addition, the MU Student Foundation raises money for student scholarships and sponsors campus-wide educational and fundraising events."
Gray said the Student Foundation hosted Tuition Stop Day in an effort to persuade students to donate and inform them that only 20.4 percent of the MU budget is covered by tuition.
"State and federal appropriations, grants and auxiliary enterprises and more importantly, private giving helps cover most of the budget," Gray said. "Most of the students were surprised by this fact, thinking that tuition covered all of their education at MU."
Gray said most of the money the Student Foundation raises goes toward scholarships for working students at MU.
"Many students on the MU campus are required to balance full-time class work in addition to maintaining a full- or part-time job in order to pay for the costs of their education," Gray said.
In addition to student donations during fundraisers, parents donated some of the campaign money in students' names.
The Parents Development Council also encourages donations to the campaign and collects this money.
"The council is responsible for making recommendations regarding fundraising priorities and the distribution of Parent Fund donations, educating parents as to the difference private giving makes in their child's education at MU and soliciting key parents as appropriate," the campaign's Web site states.
John Jostrand, Parents Development Council co-national chairman, said parents donate because they want to feel good about their child's school.
"Parents who have the capacity to give money to Mizzou want to do it because it helps them feel closer to the school and provides something that will improve the education for their children and others," Jostrand said. "Their giving can make a real difference in raising the profile of Mizzou and improving its programs, and their involvement enables excited, committed parents to share that excitement with friends and others in their communities and generate more interest in Mizzou."
Jostrand and the rest of the Parents Development Council presented Chancellor Brady Deaton with a check for $675,000 on Sept. 30.
The check included all the money that parents of MU students and alumni had donated in the 2006 fiscal year.
Jostrand and Co-chairwoman Beth Jostrand also wrote a letter that encouraged parents to donate on the campaign Web site.