This may not be earth shattering news, but in a recent article, Slate Magazine answered why alumni of prestigious universities make such large gifts to their already well funded alma maters. A new study by Jonathan Meer of Stanford and Harvey S. Rosen of Princeton shows strong evidence that over half of giving by alumni is self interested in raising the chance of admission for their children. The study also revealed how university presidents fuel the perception that gifts will sway admissions officers. “When asked why Princeton gives preferences to alumni’s kids, President Shirley M. Tilghman replied, ‘We are deeply dependent on the generosity of our alumni each and every year. … They are extremely important to the financial well-being of this university.’” It would be interesting to see if the size of the gift had any impact on admissions rates for alumni children.

The data include annual contributions by more than 32,000 alumni between 1983 and 2006, along with the birthdates of the alumni’s children. This allows them to see how the pattern of giving evolves as kids of alumni approach college-application age. Anon U, as Meer and Rosen call their College That Shall Not Be Named, looks like a pretty elite place: More than 40 percent of the students attended private schools before college, and 40 percent attain an advanced degree afterward. As the authors point out, the “fields of education, finance, health care, and law are highly represented” in alumni careers. More than half of alumni (56 percent) donate in any given year. Their average gift is $466, with distribution heavily skewed by large gifts. In 2006, the top 1 percent of gifts accounted for 69 percent of the total.

Here’s what Meer and Rosen find. Alumni with kids are 13 percentage points more likely than alumni without kids to give in any year. The tendency to give rises slowly—by three more percentage points total—through kids’ early teens. At about age 14, as mom and dad see their kid’s algebra and composition grades, they decide whether he or she will apply to the alma mater. If they decide against, then they need not give extra to grease his way in. But if the kid is legacy material, then the parents might feel a need to show some generosity to Anon U.

And, indeed, while giving declines after age 14 among parents of kids who do not go on to apply, giving rises between about 18 and 25 percentage points (above the level of the childless alums) for those whose kids do apply a few years later. The timing is certainly suggestive. Of course, it’s possible that the kids who apply are from families who are more enthusiastic about the school, which would trigger both application and contributions. But if general enthusiasm for Anon U were the cause of both the decision to apply and contributions, then we’d expect the families with eventual applicants to start outgiving the families of the eventual nonapplicants even earlier, when their kids are young. And they do not.

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