SEMO ALUMNI WOULD GET BENEFITS THROUGH ANNUAL DUES

Southeast Missouri State University's more than 40,000 alumni will be asked to pay annual membership dues, starting next year.

In return for paying dues, alumni will receive special benefits, said Mark Hill, vice president of the university's alumni council.

Dues-paying alumni will receive: membership in their local alumni chapter, the Alumni Signal magazine, discounts on merchandise at the university bookstore, special discounts on restaurants and motels during Homecoming, member-only opportunities for campus and chapter events, a Southeast Mastercard carrying a low annual interest rate, a car decal and an alumni association card.

Currently, alumni receive two issues of the Alumni Signal magazine without having to pay any dues.

Under the new plan, alumni will receive three issues of the magazine if they pay the membership dues and only one issue if they do not pay.

Hill said it's important to send all the alumni one issue of the Alumni Signal annually, at least for now, in order to help encourage people to join the dues-paying association.

The annual membership fee will be $25 for an individual, $15 for persons 65 years of age or older, The fee for a couple will be $30, $20 for those 65 years of age or older.

"It's very reasonable," Hill said of the fees. He said such fees are "kind of average for Midwestern- type universities."

Hill said the fees aren't designed to pay all of the university's expenses for alumni services. He said the fees are simply designed to pay for benefits provided to alumni and basically cover membership costs.

The goal is to foster stronger ties between the university and alumni, Hill said Wednesday. "The goal is initially creating a stronger tie between the alumni and the university, and eventually that will turn into dollars, in either participation in events or gift giving."

He added, "Other universities have found that it will enhance gift giving."

Jane Stacy, director of alumni services, said the dues approach will provide needed revenue to help develop an alumni structure that focuses not just on Southeast graduates as a whole, but also alumni at the college- and department-level.

"I see this as a way for us to reach out to other departments. The classes are so large now that the class reunion is not effective," she said.

The plan, she said, will allow the university to expand from simply geographical alumni chapters to chapters centered around particular professions, such as accountants, or segments of the campus such as a Greek alumni council for fraternities and sororities.

"To have a good, effective alumni association, you should have geographical chapters, professional chapters and organizational chapters," explained Stacy.

"There are exciting things happening, which dues will allow us to move into," she said.

Stacy said the changes should ultimately mean increased financial support for Southeast from alumni as they come to realize that the university remains a part of their life.

"I think it is an outstanding move," said Stacy.

The university is planning to send a mailing to all alumni in November.

Hill said he expects only a small number of alumni will sign up initially. At the start, if 5 to 10 percent of Southeast's alumni or 2,000 to 4,000 people pay the dues, that will be a good response, he said.

The big supporters of the university will no doubt sign up, said Hill, adding that he believes the alumni association will have no trouble getting 5 to 10 percent of alumni to pay dues.

"It is getting up to 20, 30 or 40 percent that is going to be tough," he said. It's unrealistic, he added, to expect more than 50 percent of alumni will pay dues.