Giving to TC
Frequently Asked Questions
To sustain an environment that makes Teachers College’s innovative and impactful work possible, the College is taking a vital step toward funding a robust and responsive infrastructure through a Support Services Cost.
The Support Services Cost funds critical needs at the College, which serve the needs of our faculty, students, and staff. Support Services provide for a robust and responsive infrastructure that allows TC faculty and staff to test new theories, pen new policies and foster the desire for innovation that defines TC students. By providing for Support Services, your generous contributions make it possible for us to pursue our mission to create a smarter, healthier and more equitable world.
Teachers College relies on a responsive and robust support services infrastructure to fulfill its mission. Without these resources, TC's programs simply would not be possible. To pay for this infrastructure, the College will apply a support services fee to the portion of restricted gift funds expended in a given fiscal year. The fee is adjusted annually, based on changes in the College's budgeted and actual expenses. The current rate is 15%.
This fee does not apply to gifts designated for Scholarship, Capital Projects, or Unrestricted purposes. It also does not apply to expenditures from College designated funds (indices that begin with a 2).
The Support Services Cost will be applied beginning January 1, 2022.
The Support Services Cost covers the critical resources that our faculty and staff rely upon to conduct their work including:
- Physical space
- Computing systems
- Libraries
- Human ethics clearances for research
- Safety clearances
- Financial management and auditing
- Talent acquisition and development
- Fundraising
- Marketing and communications
- Basic utilities
- ...and more critical needs
Support Services do not cover employee benefits (such as medical or dental coverage) or tax-related expenses.
Yes. The Support Services Cost is applied to any restricted gift designated to a unit at the College, regardless of gift amount. All gifts designated to a TC program, department, research center, or other specific unit within the College are considered restricted gifts. While the gift may be intended to be used by that department or program without restriction, it is still subject to the Support Services Cost.
The 15% fee is incurred at the time an expense is paid. For example, if an expendable gift of $100,000 has $15,000 in expenses spent, the support service fee of 15% will be applied to the $15,000 resulting in a fee of $2,250.
Current and new endowments are subject to the Support Services Cost beginning on and after January 1, 2022. The 15% fee is applied to expenditures charged against the portion of the endowment budgeted to be spent in a given year. For instance, if the College applies its current effective 5% spend rate to an endowment fund whose principal is $200,000, the spin off of roughly $10,000 will be allocated to spend in a given year. Presuming all $10,000 is spent, $1,304 will be allocated to the fee and $8,696 will be allocated to direct expenditures.
No. Endowments classified for financial aid or capital are excluded from the SSC.
The College has already been applying this 15% Support Services Cost to unit-designated corporation and foundation gifts.
We are happy to provide additional information and clarification around the Support Services Cost. Please contact the office of the Vice President for Institutional Affairs with any questions and thank you for your continued support of Teachers College.