KELSIE ABBT
Special to The Leader
Every year since the mid-1980s, the Fredonia College Foundation has organized a campus-wide appeal of its employees to draw in funds for approximately 500 different schools, programs, scholarships and endowments.
The All-Campus Appeal has become necessary, in part, due to the rapidly declining state funding the college receives.
According to President Virginia Horvath, “Many people assume that most of our operating budget is provided by the state, with student tuition as a supplement.”
“At one time,” said Appeal Coordinator Timothy Murphy, “the state provided over 90 percent support to SUNY, and tuition was free to New York State residents who graduated from high school with a Regents diploma — those days, sadly, are gone and will never return.”
Although Fredonia is a state university, only about 12 percent of its budget is covered by New York state. This funding is used mainly for salaries, utilities, maintenance and other costs of running the university.
“The state is challenged to use tax dollars for K-12 and medical care, with higher education as the third big-ticket area, in addition to transportation and other infrastructure,” said Horvath.
While state support has declined, one 2012 study by John Quinterno of the Dēmos organization found that “published prices for tuition and fees at public four-year universities more than doubled” since 1991, rising by 112.5 percent after adjusting for inflation. This steady escalation of the cost of college has occurred alongside stagnant incomes for most American households.
Despite the rising cost, Horvath explained that “tuition itself usually doesn’t cover the cost of instruction alone, and there are many other aspects of a university that are part of a college education: physical facilities, technology, academic support services, counseling/health services, athletics, campus life and many other services that people have come to expect.”
State funding per public full-time equivalent students is at its lowest since 1991. The result of this decline in state funds “is shifting the costs to students and families,” said Horvath.
As such, low-income students are being “priced out of an education,” explained Quinterno, despite “our longstanding commitment to equal access to higher education, regardless of one’s socioeconomic background.”
By 2011, Americans owed more in student loan debt than credit card debt.
It has become a minimum requirement for young adults seeking a place in America’s middle class to complete a postsecondary education. But higher education doesn’t just benefit individuals. Quinterno suggested, that businesses, communities, and the larger economy as a whole prosper from access to a skilled, educated workforce.
That’s why initiatives like the All-Campus Appeal are important for continuing education.
“Gifts from Fredonia’s many important benefactors — alumni, faculty, staff, businesses, foundations, community leaders and others — are our prime resources for continuing to provide the life-transforming experiences at the heart of a Fredonia education,” said Murphy.
Historically, the All-Campus Appeal has only targeted the 900 faculty and staff of the campus, with about 15-18 percent of employees joining in. This year, however according to Murphy, the Fredonia College Foundation is “implementing our first Day of Giving, or FREDlanthropy Day, for Fredonia on Oct. 4, which happens to coincide with the All-Campus Appeal campaign. The entire campus community, including students, are invited to give back to Fredonia and become FREDlanthropists.” More information about FREDlanthropy Day will be revealed over social media in the weeks following.
Faculty and staff have the opportunity to make donations through payroll deductions. Just two dollars per bi-weekly paycheck, the equivalent of one Starbucks coffee, will procure $52/a year for a fund. Payroll deduction forms will be in the All-Campus Appeal packets that will be mailed to employees.
Online giving for generous non-employees is equally as easy as filling out a form. To contribute, go to www.fredonia.edu/give and select a program. Donations can be made in memory or in honor of a loved one and are tax-exempt under 501(c)3.
Some funds to choose from include the Student Emergency Relief Fund, the Holocaust Library Fund, the College Lodge Fund and the Alternative Break Program. Scholarships include the SUNY Fredonia Veteran’s Scholarship Fund, the Rosa Parks Scholarship and several hundred by-name memorial scholarships. Donations that help fund the university include the Reed Library Digital Scans of Archival Documents Fund, Residence Life, Student Affairs or any of a number of academic or athletic programs.
“There are a number of programs/endowments that I regularly donate to,” said Horvath. These include the Keeper of the Dream Scholarship and Leadership Program, funds to support the goals of the Power of Fredonia strategic plan, and two endowments she herself started: the Paul and Mary Joyce Schaefer Scholarship, in the name of her parents, and the Courage and Honor Scholarship, which supports veterans studying at Fredonia.
“Your support keeps access and excellence alive,” says the Fredonia College Foundation’s webpage. “Thank you for making a difference.”