AUC raises $115 million through donations
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| Courtesy of the Office of Communications and Marketing I WAS HERE!: A wall of remeberance for alumni to leave their mark at AUC |
Through fundraising and donations from students and alumni, the American University in Cairo (AUC) has raised $115 million to finance its new campus in Kattameya.
Built on 260 acres purchased in 1997, AUC’s new campus will cost $400 million at completion. According to the AUC website, the environmentally sensitive campus will include new educational, technological and sports facilities.
Students donated to the new campus by purchasing palm trees while alumni pay to have their names on bricks in the Alumni Wall, a brick wall on the new campus grounds.
“Fifty six percent of the $115 million goes for [building] the new campus. The rest of the amount is [earmarked for] student scholarships, fellowships, professorships and introducing or upgrading academic programs,” said Karima Ammar, associate director of major gifts at the university’s development office.
Callers from the development office telephone students, parents and alumni to discuss the latest news at AUC and invite them to contribute to AUC, said Noha Korayem, assistant director for the university’s annual giving campaign. It is up to them to choose whether to contribute to scholarships, student activities or the new campus.
“Lately, parents and alumni have shown interest in having their names engraved somewhere on the new campus and hence thousands of bricks and trees were named [after donors],” said Korayem.
However, many students do not like the fact that tuition fees are increasing every semester while they are also being asked to donate money for the new campus.
“It is not acceptable that they increase my tuition and ask for donations,” said Sherif Abu Touk, a business administration junior.
The tuition increase for next semester will not be determined until June. However, the tuition increases every semester from 2% to 5% due to inflation, said Nawal Aboul Ela Ahmed, assistant director of student financial affairs.
Because AUC is a non-profit organization, it depends on fundraising as a source of income, said Korayem. Tuition fees represent 59.2 percent of the university’s income, she added.
“The way the university’s office calls and asks for donations is humiliating because AUC is bigger than nagging for money to build its new campus,” said Amira El Alialy, a journalism and mass communication senior.
Nevertheless, many students, parents and alumni are willing to contribute. “I think it is nice to have the chance to have your name on the new campus,” said Laila Helaly, another journalism and mass communication senior.
“The spaces named are a vote of confidence in AUC. Those who name spaces truly believe in the value [and] quality [of a] a liberal arts education. We should be proud and grateful to have their names [at] the new campus,” said Korayem.
