There are over 200 funds that make up The Oberlin Fund, ranging from general headings like research support and conservatory scholarships to specific departmental, organization, or project funds. An unrestricted gift helps support all these parts of Oberlin at the same time.

We understand that some alums have stronger connections to particular parts of Oberlin, so we welcome gifts that are restricted to a particular use. When you make a donation, it goes where you say it should go – be that Allen Art Museum, the Geology department, student life, or scholarships – including any of the projects currently underway by OCCASR staff.

Unrestricted or 'area of greatest need' gifts are very important since they give Oberlin the flexibility to respond to problems or take advantage of opportunities. Year to year though financial aid is far and away Oberlin's greatest need – over $36 million in grant aid (none of which has to be repaid) was given to over 1400 students last year. When you give an unrestricted gift, eighty-five percent is earmarked immediately for scholarships, with the rest helping support the day to day operations of the school. You can designate your gift solely to scholarships as well.

With over 33,000 alums, gifts add up quickly. If half of the young alums (1996-2006) out there gave just $12 each, that would mean over $46,000 for scholarships and more.

Likewise, if just a third of the graduates of the last decade made a donation of any size, it would raise Oberlin's participation rate by almost 10 points to nearly 50 percent overall.

Think your $10 won't matter right now and Oberlin would be better off if you waited to donate? Organizations and foundations that award research and program grants like to see strong alumni giving rates. They're looking at how many people give, not how much each person gives.

Similarly, those Oberlin donors who already are making multi-figure gifts often give more when fellow alums make their own contributions and it's much easier to get a donor off the fence when they see how many others are pitching in. And of course, the US News rankings take alumni giving into consideration. The simple act of giving at all means a lot to people off-campus, as well as on.

Our online donation form lets you easily give a certain amount at an interval - monthly, quarterly, or yearly - that you determine. Not everyone can drop $50 or $100 on a gift to their school right now, but if you'd like your gift to be a little larger, consider setting up this recurring gift at $10 a month for a few months. You'll receive email notifications that your gift has processed, but no additional paper - including no reminders for upcoming payments since they'll be handled automatically.

One fact little-known to students and alumni alike is that tuition revenue doesn't cover the cost of the school year – it only covers about 55 percent. In the 2005-6 school year, Oberlin spent about $128.5 million for all of its operations. That's classrooms and dining halls, faculty and staff salaries/benefits, facilities maintenance, guest lectures, art for Allen, snacks for dorm council meetings – the whole nine yards. It paid for all this through a number of sources. Tuition, fees, room and board were far and away the largest source of revenue – but they only add up to $72.8 million. That's (72.8 / 128.5) = .56 or 56 percent. This figure has been roughly the same for years.

Many people want to know if this is typical of our peer institutions. It's a little hard to compare apples to apples since some schools spend less on financial aid, and few have the large costs associated with our art museum, the conservatory, or even the library. However, it does seem that Oberlin is in the right ballpark:

In 1994 the average private 4-year college received about 76 percent of its revenue from tuition and related fees (see McPherson and Shapiro's The Student Aid Game). This number, however, was gathered back when schools counted the costs and revenue associated with financial aid a little differently. Then, tuition revenue was calculated as the number of students enrolled multiplied by the tuition charge for a student; financial aid money was listed under 'costs'. Today, most schools discount the financial aid at the beginning – that is, we only count the dollars actually paid by enrolled students and their parents. Financial aid no longer shows up as a cost, and the tuition revenue listed is 'net' tuition.

Under the 'old' accounting system, Oberlin covered about 65 percent of its costs with tuition revenue. The difference from the 76 percent average can be chalked up, at least in part, to the large amount of grant financial aid Oberlin gives each year – over $36 million in the 2005-6 school year.

(If you'd like to see all the raw statistics, the most recent Financial Statements are available from the Controller's website (the relevant material is on page 8, with the previous year on page 9). (hide information)

As you can see from this picture, at least one of the squirrels is actually albino. We also know from photos and personal experience that at least one of the white-furred squirrels does *not* have red eyes, and is therefore either just white-furred or possible leucistic (a genetic disorder that shows up with some frequency in animals, causing reduced, but not a total absence of, pigmentation). 

How many of each are there? An excellent question – as you might guess, it's hard to get close enough to differentiate the at least five white-furred squirrels that have been spotted in and around Tappan. But we are trying, even if it takes every hour of the workday.

We can't pinpoint when the first albino squirrel appeared on Tappan – alums from at least the late 90s forward recognize the phrase 'albino squirrel' while the further back you go the more likely you are to hear just 'white squirrels'. White-furred squirrels have been around for a long time – alums as early as the 1950s excitedly recall seeing them around campus.