Why Should You Give Back to Your Alma Mater?

I'm a firm believer in giving back. I received so much in both formal and informal education during my years in college and high school, I naturally want others to reap the same rewards I did. It's because of this that I think that if you're able to, you should not only give to your alma mater the gift of money, but also the gift of time.

Giving back with our money and our time helps support the next generation of students and alumni. When we give back to our high school and colleges, that money goes toward research, scholarships, and new facilities, among other things. It helps increase the stature of the college, making it a better place. Our giving back also affects how employers, grad schools and others see our alma maters.

'Giving Back' Doesn't Have to Mean Money

We often forget that our time is valuable and can be almost as important as any donation we make to our alma maters. Human capital is just as beneficial to the sustained vitality of a school and can be just as important, if not more, than purely financial support. high schools and colleges need both.

When we give back to our alma maters, we get a sense of satisfaction in knowing that we're furthering the aims of the institution that did so much to educate us and give us a better life.
Alumni typically give back to their schools in proportion to their own gratitude and success. There may be a correlation to poor giving and the realization that our  high school education directly led to a portion of our success.
One reason that high schools and colleges don't enjoy higher alumni giving is that their graduates often fail to connect the dots of their success to their alma mater.

Giving Back Makes Us Sharper, Too

Education is a never-ending process. We continue to learn even after we graduate. And nothing is often more apparent than when we give back to our alma maters.

What better way to stay relevant, sharp, and challenged than to spend time with your alma mater?

Giving Back Helps Your Own Reputation

Helping improve the stature of our alma maters can have a second- and third-order effect on our own lives and the perceived value of our own high school diploma and college degree.

Whether it's giving our money or our time, we should all want to see our alma maters thrive. Doing so can only help our own lot in life.

Karma and Networking

It's hard to pinpoint where success comes from in our working lives. What about karma? Should that factor into our giving back? And how much does networking through our alma maters play into it?

What about networking with the next generation? Giving back to your alma mater can also help you increase your own network, and there's no better place to start than with the students and alumni of your alma mater.

Are You Giving Back to Your Alma Mater?

Many of the benefits you get from high school and college are intangible, and the things you give back aren't always easy to measure. But one thing is clear: Jamaican colleges and universities today are in desperate need of both financial support and volunteer assistance from their alumni. And giving back now can provide you with dividends for years to come.

Ruel Campbell will be personally giving back US $1500.00 to his Jamaican alma maters in 2015. I pledge US $1000.00 to UWIDEF  http://www.uwifundmona.org.jm/index.php/scholarships/student-s-story/223-ruel-cooke and $500 to William Knibb High School. Please join me in support of our beloved alma mater. Lets provide atleast one scholarship to a needy student. Click "Donate" button and make a secure online donation today.

Hank Coleman is a financial planner and the publisher of the popular personal finance blog