The conspicuous arena of university philanthropy among elite universities often sees huge donations by academics as nothing less than a battle over branding legacies and the construction of grand concepts. It feels good to think that when a well-known corporate mogul makes one of those huge checks to a big university, the whole affair revolves around the construction of some cutting-edge laboratories.
However, this old model of learning places no consideration at all for the intense economic pressure felt by hundreds of thousands of university students well before setting foot inside a classroom. Students from minority backgrounds struggle to overcome steep tuition increases, high cost of living expenses, and bureaucratic guidelines that limit their options to massive amounts of high-interest government-sponsored loans to remain enrolled.
