Robin Panza wrote:
>
>  The majority of people not
> paying were college students, most of them from affluent families.  They
> appeared to be not donating out of principle, rather than poverty (students
> wearing designer clothing and accessories wouldn't seem impoverished)
> This is one of many examples of the attitude that "the world owes me" among
> college (undergrad and grad) students.  The attitude seems to be rampant, and a
> poor justification for maintaining a donation system.

I found these blanket statements about students to be quite offensive.
Are these observations supported by the survey you conducted or merely
preconcieved notions about college students? I am a recent graduate, and
know first hand that the many (most) students (undergrad and grad) have
little to no money to spend on non-academic related items.  After
tuition, books, room and board ect... many students are barely getting
by on the money they earn working part-time jobs.  I found this to be
true of students from "affluent families" as well as, those from middle
and lower income families. "Designer" clothes and accessories, often
recieved as gifts, are no judge of the a persons actual financial
situation. Having rich parents does not necessarily mean you have money.
As to the idea that students believe that the "world owes them", In my
expirence most people, regardless of thier age seem to think that this
is the case.

 My suggestion (re: the original topic of addmissions charges) is to
implement a scaled system of admissions charges offering childern,
students and pensioners a lower rate than the general admission charge.
This system seems to work quite well in many of the museums I have
visited (especially in Europe and the UK). A second suggestion is to
implement a "suggested donation" scheme. In other words ask for a
voluntary donation of a specific ammount (and make it look like an
admissions charge.)  I found that most of the museums that do this
(such as the V&A in London)  print the words suggested, or voluntary in
much smaller type than the recomended monetary amount, thus almost
guaranteeing that they will recieve that amount. With museums having to
increasingly compete for the consumer entertainment dollar, offering
people an incentive to visit your museum (such as a discount) seems like
a good idea to me.  Offering a reduced admission rate to groups which
typically have lower amounts of disposable income is not giving in to
the belief that "the world owes them" but instead makes these people
happy to pay what they see as a "bargin" price.

That's just my 2¢ worth.

Carol Henderson