As a youth in 1940s Detroit, Don Tapia encountered domestic violence outside his doorsteps, sported one pair of shoes and sold magazines to provide household necessities for his mother and sister.
Today, the 72-year-old grandfather of six is a retired businessman who recently donated $4 million to his alma mater, Saint Leo University, to build a new School of Business center with nine classrooms, computer labs and technology suite.
Tapia’s donation, the largest single gift in the school’s history, is also a campus-improvement gift from an online alumnus who never stepped foot on campus until graduation.
Tapia took courses at Saint Leo through its Center for Online Learning to receive his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education, which tracks large donations to colleges and universities, says money from online alumni like Tapia will be essential to institutions as the economy continues to struggle.
“Online graduates have as much to give back to their alma maters in terms of time, talent and treasure as their on-campus counterparts. They may have as much capacity to make major gifts,” says Rae Goldsmith, vice president of Advancement Resources for CASE.
“Institutions may not have the resources to provide critically needed classroom and laboratory facilities without significantly increasing tuition — which they would almost certainly prefer not to do — so private donations of this magnitude are especially important to help educational institutions as well as the students who attend them,” she says.
