How Much Does It Cost To Buy Your Child In?

Daniel Golden Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated March 12, 2003 12:01 a.m. ET

"Buying your way into Duke" is virtually impossible, says former Harvard University dean of arts and sciences Henry Rosovsky in "The University: An Owner's Manual." "Pull, personal influence, bribery," he wrote in 1990, are "inconsequential factors" in college admissions.

Such faith is harder to sustain these days. Duke University, for one, says it has accepted 100 to 125 underqualified students annually due to family wealth or connections -- up from 20 a decade ago. Most other selective universities, private and public, also favor children of past and prospective donors.

As competition for slots at selective colleges becomes ever more ferocious, affluent parents may be more inclined to pay to gain an edge, but just as uncertain about how to do it without seeming crass. A big donation -- or the prospect of one -- doesn't guarantee admission. It does, however, put applicants on the priority list of the college's fund-raising, or development, office.

The question for many parents is how big is "big"? The price for special treatment rises with the college's endowment. Educational consultants say a five-figure donation -- as low as $20,000 -- is enough to draw attention of a liberal-arts college with an endowment in the hundreds of millions. That's a relatively modest sum compared with the $140,000-plus parents pay for four years of tuition and housing.

At an exclusive college, it can take at least $50,000 with some assurance that future donations will be even greater. At top-25 universities, a minimum of $100,000 is required; for the top 10, at least $250,000 and often seven figures. Parents who aren't that flush can compensate by pledging stock or a portion of their estate through various deferred-giving arrangements.

At Duke and some other universities, names of these "development applicants" are brought to the attention of the admissions office, which typically has reviewed the applicants already without regard to wealth -- and may have tentatively rejected them. If one or both of the student's wealthy parents graduated from the university, the alumni office may also endorse the student.

These students are then judged by admissions on a lesser academic standard -- not whether they can excel, but whether they can graduate. Still, admissions may turn them down. At some institutions, that decision is final. At Duke, if development and admissions can't resolve a case, the student's fate is referred to the provost.

Even when turned down, development applicants are often treated with kid gloves. Duke and other universities sometimes encourage them to reapply after a year at another college or prep school.

The development edge for children of prospective donors is a separate factor in admissions from the better-known boost for alumni children, often known as "legacies." But, since major donors tend to be alumni, the two preferences often overlap. At some schools, the development and alumni offices may provide separate lists of priority applicants to admissions; elsewhere, the lists may be combined.

Some parents and educators consider it ethically questionable for people to take advantage of their wealth to push underqualified children into selective colleges, perhaps edging out a more needy and academically superior applicant. In many cases, students may be happier and more successful at second-tier colleges that better suit their abilities. And dangling upfront donations invites a lifetime of solicitations from the university.

College administrators are reluctant to discuss such preferences. But when pressed, Duke and others argue that tuition alone doesn't cover the cost of education, while donations underwrite scholarships, faculty salaries and other expenses. They also say they admit only students who can flourish. Duke, for one, plans to limit these types of admissions to 65 students this year, and fewer next year.

Some universities are more receptive than others, and attitudes can shift as new presidents or trustees set a different tone. In the mid-1960s, Yale signaled its commitment to merit-based admissions by rejecting the son of its biggest donor, Paul Mellon.

These days, few colleges are as stand-offish. An Internet counselor service by Princeton Review Inc. asks prospective students if their parents have made "large donations to a college" or if "there's a library at the college with your name on it." Richard Montauk, author of books on how to get into the top schools, says, "There's a level of giving, for example if you're endowing a $50 million building, at which the kid gets in regardless. Unless maybe he has some serious felony record."

Choose Your Relatives Carefully

A look at the way some colleges and universities handle legacies:

U. of Pennsylvania Gives preference to alumni children who apply for early decision. Also, alumni volunteers call and console every Penn graduate whose child or grand-child is rejected for admission.

Wesleyan University Gives preference not only to alumni children and grand-children, but also step-children, nieces and nephews.

Notre Dame Has one of the largest proportions of alumni children in its student body of any major university - about 23%.

Harvard University A 1990 federal report found that Harvard's preference for alumni children can offset "weaker credentials." Evidence included this assessment by Harvard staff: "Dad's ...connections signify lineage of more than usual weight."

Duke University A man posing as a baron from Europe's Rothschild family attended classes here in the 1980s. He was later identified as Mauro Cortez Jr. from El Paso, Texas.

Brown University Offers free college counseling for children and grandchildren

Educational consultants say it's a good idea for parents to pave the way early. Donate at least $2,500 to $5,000 annually -- even sporadically -- to the favored school even before the child is old enough to apply. Development offices look kindly on consistent givers, in part because the influential U.S. News and World Report rankings use the percentage of alumni who donate as an indicator of student satisfaction. And a philanthropic track record boosts hope for future donations.

The extent of an applicant's legacy preference depends on the family's current prosperity as well as its history of giving and service to the college. Service may include committee memberships, fund raising, interviewing prospective students, and other volunteer duties.

If the parents are big donors to their child's secondary school -- preferably five figures -- that school's development officer may be willing to alert a university counterpart to the family's philanthropic track record, says Boston educational consultant Michael Spence. He said it's not unheard of "to try to inspire" the development office at your child's school with a generous donation; it's even more effective, but also more time consuming, to join the prep school's board.

Another relevant connection: if a parent is employed by or sits on the board of a corporation or foundation that the university hopes will donate.

The biggest no-no is applying for financial aid. A 1991 study of Harvard admissions by David Karen, now a professor at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, found that alumni children were more likely to be admitted than others. The edge shrinks with alumni offspring who sought financial aid; 42% of legacies who did not seek aid were admitted, compared with 35% of those who did.

"My interpretation was that, if you couldn't parlay a Harvard degree into an income sufficient to pay for your kid's education, Harvard was less likely to make the same mistake twice," Prof. Karen says.

Write to Daniel Golden at dan.golden@wsj.com

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3902604&forum_id=2#35476700)

LMAO

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3902604&forum_id=2#35476717)

I'm sure it drops off bigly after HYPS

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3902604&forum_id=2#35476784)