Project Giving Tree

Project Giving Tree is a response to the changing dynamics of University funding. With state funding at all-time lows and tuition at all-time highs, the campaign seeks to raise awareness about the importance of giving back to UTCS starting as soon as students graduate. The senior class of 2014 launched the first student-driven giving campaign in the Department of Computer Science. This‚ campaign, called Project Giving Tree, is dedicated to improving the overall quality of UT Computer Science undergraduate education.

State funding for UT Austin has been declining for years, and today, the overall percentage that the state contributes to the University budget has fallen to 13%. Thirty years ago that number was nearly 50%. The slow and inexorable decline of state funds has forced public schools to follow in the path of their private counterparts to ramp up funding from alumni to fill the shortfall. Some universities do this better than others. Nationally, the average university has an alumni-giving rate of 8.7% annual participation. Some institutions are far more effective, with Princeton at the head of the pack with an alumni-giving rate of 62.5%. Historically, UTCS alumni have not been asked to contribute significantly to the department's future, and in 2012 the annual giving rate was a mere 0.5%. The students with Project Giving Tree aim to change that momentum. The students who launched Project Giving Tree, along with Chairman Porter decided that the funds raised by Project Giving Tree would be used exclusively to directly support the area that impacts undergraduates the most. Any money donated to the campaign will be used to fund special classes the department couldn't otherwise offer. These will be specialty classes with wide appeal chosen by the chair in consultation with the student body. In speaking of their motivation for taking on the project, the founding co-chair William Combs said, "In the end, we won't be able to experience the benefits of this project firsthand. What we can do is make sure that the school we're leaving behind us is better for the next generation of UTCS students, and that the legacy of a UTCS degree remains strong." With a $200 or greater gift to TXCS, you can have your name or the name of a loved one etched into the GDC Alumni Stair Rail, permanently commemorating your time at the University of Texas at Austin.