[Treebound]

CT,
I know a few large donors to UCB and they have been attempting to persuade their undergraduate alums to give to the university over the last 5-10 years and have made "very poor progress."  One of them sits on a task force looking at this very issue of alumni participation in giving.  They see that Stanford has created a culture of giving back amongst its alums and that participation is key.    This focus on participation (at any level) has been embraced by the local public school districts (aka "Basic Aid Districts") where state funding is capped and the Foundations and PTOs now raise substantial portions of the budget for local elementary and secondary schools.  I'm guessing you live in CT, where many of those school districts are viewed as "best practices" examples for states like CA. 

While I agree that "Knight level" giving can bias results, creating a culture of giving back to your undergrad, especially a public university like UCB, is the new reality and sets a foundation for future giving.  The decline in programs and resources here in CA is real and it is dragging down a once great university system.  As a UC degree holder (grad) and native Californian, that saddens me.  Many well qualified HS students in my son's high school graduating class last year rejected their offers from various UC's as they were legitimately concerned about being able to take the classes they needed to complete their degree in 4 years.    That trend is clearly not a positive as they missed out on some great kids.

[Treebound]

CT,
I know a few large donors to UCB and they have been attempting to persuade their undergraduate alums to give to the university over the last 5-10 years and have made "very poor progress."  One of them sits on a task force looking at this very issue of alumni participation in giving.  They see that Stanford has created a culture of giving back amongst its alums and that participation is key.    This focus on participation (at any level) has been embraced by the local public school districts (aka "Basic Aid Districts") where state funding is capped and the Foundations and PTOs now raise substantial portions of the budget for local elementary and secondary schools.  I'm guessing you live in CT, where many of those school districts are viewed as "best practices" examples for states like CA. 

While I agree that "Knight level" giving can bias results, creating a culture of giving back to your undergrad, especially a public university like UCB, is the new reality and sets a foundation for future giving.  The decline in programs and resources here in CA is real and it is dragging down a once great university system.  As a UC degree holder (grad) and native Californian, that saddens me.  Many well qualified HS students in my son's high school graduating class last year rejected their offers from various UC's as they were legitimately concerned about being able to take the classes they needed to complete their degree in 4 years.    That trend is clearly not a positive as they missed out on some great kids.