Auburn Capital Campaign

ONLY 225 million to go?

Auburn gets $57 million gift, kicks off fundraising campaign


John and Rosemary Brown, 1957 alumni, announce their $57 million gift at the Because This Is Auburn campaign gala, April 17, 2015. (Source: Auburn University)

Two Auburn University graduates have given the university its largest gift in school history.

Before Saturday's A-Day football game, John and Rosemary Brown committed $57 million to the university to fund two new facilities -- a new performing arts center and a student achievement center in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.

The couple graduated from Auburn in 1957. John Brown was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Stryker Corporation, a medical device company. Rosemary Brown retired after teaching math for almost 30 years.

The university also announced a $1 billion fundraising campaign called "Because This is Auburn."

"The 'Because This is Auburn' campaign will support four major areas across the university," according to a news release from the university. "Auburn's goal is to create thousands of new scholarships for students, to endow more than 100 new chairs and professorships for educators and researchers, to develop programs that will allow the Auburn Family to connect with people everywhere, and to build new facilities and reimagine existing campus facilities."

The university has already raised more than $775 million for the campaign.

Auburn has named seven co-chairs for the campaign: Joe and Gayle Forehand, residents of Dallas, Texas; Raymond and Kathryn Harbert, residents of Birmingham; Wayne and Cheryl Smith, residents of Nashville, TN; and Beth Thorne Stukes, who resides in Jasper.

so why does the school need a billion dollars for when they make a killing off tuition and everything else?

quote:

---

so why does the school need a billion dollars for when they make a killing off tuition and everything else?

---

The paradox is the more they charge, the more applicants. College has basically become a monument to hyper-consumerism.

We use to go to college, live in a dump, eat ramen/peanut butter, take classes, and go to games, flush, supper club, free movie at Langdon, etc.

Now Auburn (like most other colleges) is a resort which offers classes.

Alabama is cutting funding to secondary education. Auburns total endowment is one of the smallest, but endowment per student is Average. Universities in general are inefficient organizations with tenure, limited hours, ridiculous benefits, etc. Auburn is currently well run in that area. Tuition went up 2.5% this year, Bama's went up 3.5% and I understand they have multiple financial challenges based on their growth strategy.

https://www.dailygamecock.com/article/2013/04/despite-growth-uscs-endowment-still-secs-lowest-per-student


Endowment per student:
1. Vanderbilt – $267,450
2. Texas A&M system – $60,881
3. Kentucky – $32,110
4. Arkansas – $31,404
5. Mississippi system – $27,253
6. Florida – $25,310
7. UGA system – $21,562
8. Auburn – $18,371
9. Mississippi State – $16,885
10.Tennessee system – $16,788
11. Alabama system – $16,653
12. Missouri system – $15,614
13. LSU system – $15,149
14. USC system – $11,109

Auburn offers many more scholarships than they used to. It is also one of the things limiting growth.

For a review of average tuition cost, Auburn is $1,200 below Alabama for instate students.

SEC-Tuition