Many American college grads like to give to colleges and universities, usually but not always the dear old alma mater. And sometimes they have particular uses in mind for the money. They assume that school officials will honor their desires, but unfortunately that is often not the case. In this SeeThru post, Rich Vedder takes us through the difficulties.

His suggested remedy is for schools that dishonor donor intent to lose their tax exemption for some period of time. I’d like to see the income tax abolished entirely, but until such time, that solution would no doubt cause college officials to be extremely careful not to violate the donor’s intentions.

For a thorough examination of the donor intent problem in colleges, check out Martin Morse Wooster’s Pope Center paper on the subject.