Reader Panel Poll

— Scott VanDeusen
director of development for annual campaigns,
St. John’s University

“For our institution (a small, public, liberal-arts college), the biggest issue right now is how the national economic crisis is affecting our students. In the past, we have been able to personally call a major donor or two and ask for an additional gift to cover emergency situations. (For example, we have encountered situations where a student’s family had to cover unexpected major medical bills that left the student without financial support for the year.) Now, there are too many requests, and we’ve formed a special committee to respond to emergency financial circumstances that an increasing number of students are facing.”