Cornell University

[u/Timbucktwo1230]

[u/CapitalFloor3260]

Who the fuck leaves half of their estate to a fucking school???!!!

[u/Starseed-111 → u/CapitalFloor3260]

Someone who’s never been poor

[u/charlie8123 → u/Starseed-111]

This. This is the right answer

[u/CleverNickName-69 → u/Starseed-111]

I think that is a bad assumption. I know someone who grew up small town with a single mother who worked as a teacher (dad had died). They worked their way through the state university, then moved to another state for grad school at another state school. Worked 40 years in finance through the booms of the 60s and 80s. Their personal estate is certainly in the tens of millions, and it could realistically be 9 figures. They have overseen and organized multiple charity organizations and given away a lot of money.

They don't have expensive tastes, no mansion, no fancy cars. Their only heir has passed away.

After retirement, they moved back to the city where they got their undergrad, and have given significant money to that University and the one where they got their Masters, as well as scholarships and other charities.

Why wouldn't they leave a bunch of money to those schools? They have enough to give some to family and lots of other charities. Why shouldn't they want their name, or their Mom's name, or their wife's name on a building to memorialize them?

[u/MatthewsMath → u/CleverNickName-69]

I think it’s a bad assumption to take this as a rule more than an exception.

It’s not a common thing for such vast sums to be left to ivy’s endowment, except when the circumstances converge such as this^

Recreate those facts and provide stats that disprove it.

Lmao I bet you this case won’t even be comparable.

[u/CleverNickName-69 → u/MatthewsMath]

I agree it is rare that someone leaves half their estate to a college.

It is also rare that people grow up poor and die rich.

But I still think it is a bad assumption to say that anyone who would give half their estate to a college is someone that has never been poor.

[u/currently_distracted → u/CapitalFloor3260]

Many people leave significant portions of their estate to organizations that mean a lot to them, and alma maters are especially important to some people.

[u/daphneadora9 → u/CapitalFloor3260]

My thought exactly

[u/eirinne → u/CapitalFloor3260]

And to a school not in financial need. He could leave money to a local educational institution, or plant trees for the community, or whatever.

[u/JazzlikeBreakfast495 → u/CapitalFloor3260]

A fictional self?

[u/Ok-Race-1677 → u/CapitalFloor3260]

“Qasim Rashid” which is a real sounding but completely unreal name

[u/supasit58 → u/Ok-Race-1677]

That’s not even the person who wrote the letter. And 2 seconds search would show that Qasim Rashid is a real person

[u/Greeneggplusthing2 → u/CapitalFloor3260]

My family does. I'm ashamed for our connections to Cornell

[u/ROOM_101_1984 → u/CapitalFloor3260]

I thought that it was regular old tuition that did that.

[u/Status-Visit-918 → u/CapitalFloor3260]

lol who has an “estate”? 😭 like the $500 my kids would be lucky to receive cannot and should not be called an “estate” 😭