[newnamenewface]

This really gets at the heart of why I have very little allegiance and essentially no desire to donate to my alma mater: Why would I care about or donate to a business that really doesn't care about me individually besides $$$ signs? Sure, I patronized them for four years of my life, but I've done the same with In & Out for longer and you don't see me sending them a check for nothing. Much like In & Out, the positive memories of my alma mater were more so about the people I was with than the location or business proposition itself. Ok, I'm ending this metaphor before it becomes too contrived...

[hattmall]

Realistically you donate so that the school has a bigger budget and more opportunity to gain prestige making your diploma more valuable. That's really only relevant to a small subset of the population and rapidly shrinking. Four decades ago degrees had meaning but now they are largely participation trophies that come at great expense.

[toomuchtodo]

Better to donate to Khan Academy. Can even enjoy an In N Out burger while doing so.

[ineedasername]

Khan academy is absolutely fantastic. However, it's only a step above giving students free textbooks or other self-learning resources: It mostly work for students that are already self-motivating. This tends to be a minority of students, and most require some degree of a human support network to succeed.