[omnomnomtea]

I really feel this. This article felt almost like a "duh" moment to me, but I realize not everyone has the same experience as me.

I went to an "elite" college (Northwestern University- thought about hiding the name, but really this says more about them than it does about me). I could easily have gone hungry if the cards had played out a little differently. (Friends would sneak me food from the dining hall when I couldn't get enough meals to sustain me, which got me through the worst of it, so I never actually missed more than a meal here or there)

If there was a way to get free tickets to anything, as in the school in the article, I never heard about it. Like the students in this article, I didn't knew what office hours were for until later. Oh, and I was charged to apply for financial aid, because they required an application that cost $20 in addition to the FAFSA. That year I had to beg my aunt for $20 or I wouldn't have been able to apply for financial aid for the next year. Navigating the system to get financial aid was a battle every year.

I graduated a few years ago, make good money now, and honestly I don't think I'll ever donate money to NU after the experiences I had there. Sure, they let me in and gave me need-based-aid - but they sure didn't do anything else to help me succeed. Saying that elite colleges make low-income students "feel unwelcome" is an understatement.

[mmsimanga]

I can understand you not donating to institution, are you donating to students in a similar position to you when you were studying?

[screye]

If only donations could be targeted to specific causes and not massive faceless pools of cash which can go anywhere.