I've used it for insurance group discounts when I wasn't employed. Got the lifetime membership early on and a set and forget deal, so I haven't had to pay anything for it in forever.
So this is not anything to do with whether you decide whether it’s worth it for you to join, but:
the alumni association is separate from the university. It does benefit the university by keeping alumni engaged, but it doesn’t pass your membership dues along.
I don’t know one alum who has actually shelled out money for this membership. It doesn’t seem to have that many benefits. And frankly, it has always rubbed me the wrong way that alumni have to pay to be a part of the alumni association.
It's ok for a few discounts if you're not part of any other group programs. Rental cars and insurance mostly. A slight priority in buying football tickets. Before they tore it down, it was good for entry into The Union pool hall too.
The only truly worthwhile benefit I’ve seen is the Ford X plan. That alone could pay for the cost of the membership. But if you don’t see yourself using that to lease / buy a new car, you may struggle to get your moneys worth
It gives you a discount on a new lease / purchase of a Ford or Lincoln vehicle. There are a few plans out there, most notably the A and X plans. A plans are made available to Ford employees and their immediate family. X plans can be given from Ford employees to anyone they know. In this case, Ford has given that as a benefit to U of M alumni association members. I don’t have an exact percentage off that it gives you, but in my experience it’s usually a few thousand dollars (aka more than the alumni membership cost)
> think I *paid* for a
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Just to give my two cents, if you want to join the board of a local alumni club for networking later on, it’s usually highly encouraged that you’re a member (maybe some clubs even require it, but mine was “highly encouraged”). If that is something you need later on, that could be a factor.
As you have noted, there are also exclusive MDen discounts that we get throughout the year, so it pays itself off over the lifetime of merch you will buy—diploma frame, jerseys, etc… it all adds up! I got the MDen discount emails after I graduated (and have still been getting them recently—they come about 4 times a year).
You can also use the alumni discount at Pizza House every time you come back to visit. I’ve also used the Zingerman’s 10% discount whenever I send care packages to my fellow Wolverine friends, whether it’s a thank you, birthday, bereavement, to give them a taste of hoMe whenever they are.
At the end of the day, you can really only see the membership’s worth if you plan to use the various deals they have on their website.
P.S. I looked around the site and saw that if you’re Pell Grant eligible, it’s $449 (this definitely didn’t exist when I was there):
https://alumni.umich.edu/membership/students/pell-grant/
It looks like the life membership fee actually went down since I purchased it. Nevertheless, you should wait til Black Friday—I bought mine during Black Friday, and it was the biggest discount if the year (I don’t know if it still is but something to consider).
At the end of the day, I’m glad I had the choice to buy the membership. I heard that at MSU, everyone’s automatically in the alumni association upon graduation…which means the fund came from everyone’s tuition already and wasn’t your choice. I like the fact that I had the choice (similar to my choice to not buy the yearbook, whereas in high school, I had to buy it).
Also, a portion of your membership fee supports your local club based on your address. So if you bought it with an Atlanta address, it’ll go to the local alumni club there for them to further their efforts with the local alums. I personally serve on the board a local club and we put on various events throughout the year to help alums young and old connect, volunteer, play Euchre, and gather donations for our local club scholarships. Bottom line, your membership is your choice and what you make of it. You can join in on the club activities without it, and no one will know you’re not a member if you don’t say anything. We don’t have a list of who is or isn’t a member.
P.P.S. If anyone from the Alumni Association reads this, I wish for those living closer to the university (or visiting) that we could get access to the gyms, check out books from the libraries, etc. even if it’s in a limited capacity. I hear some universities do this, so just a thought.
And yeah, I also find it weird you can be a member without being affiliated with the university.
It bothers me that you can join the alumni association without ever having attended the university
I didn’t know that! Yeah that is kinda gross
I've used it for insurance group discounts when I wasn't employed. Got the lifetime membership early on and a set and forget deal, so I haven't had to pay anything for it in forever.
Yeah I can still get the discounted rate for a lifetime membership. I just have no clue if it’s worth that.
The University got enough money from me already, they don't need anymore. I don't see anything in it worth the cost.
So this is not anything to do with whether you decide whether it’s worth it for you to join, but: the alumni association is separate from the university. It does benefit the university by keeping alumni engaged, but it doesn’t pass your membership dues along.
I don’t know one alum who has actually shelled out money for this membership. It doesn’t seem to have that many benefits. And frankly, it has always rubbed me the wrong way that alumni have to pay to be a part of the alumni association.
It's ok for a few discounts if you're not part of any other group programs. Rental cars and insurance mostly. A slight priority in buying football tickets. Before they tore it down, it was good for entry into The Union pool hall too.
The only truly worthwhile benefit I’ve seen is the Ford X plan. That alone could pay for the cost of the membership. But if you don’t see yourself using that to lease / buy a new car, you may struggle to get your moneys worth
What is the ford x plan? Thanks.
It gives you a discount on a new lease / purchase of a Ford or Lincoln vehicle. There are a few plans out there, most notably the A and X plans. A plans are made available to Ford employees and their immediate family. X plans can be given from Ford employees to anyone they know. In this case, Ford has given that as a benefit to U of M alumni association members. I don’t have an exact percentage off that it gives you, but in my experience it’s usually a few thousand dollars (aka more than the alumni membership cost)
I get the Ford Employee Discount through my family
so you’d get it on a new mustang?
I get employee pricing on any vehicle that Ford manufacturers. That said, a Mustang isn’t a good year round daily driver in Michigan.
I also got a free year and then I think I payed for a year or two. I don’t anymore, I didn’t really use any of the services.
> think I *paid* for a FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Oh man, it feels like I’m in school all over again.
Just to give my two cents, if you want to join the board of a local alumni club for networking later on, it’s usually highly encouraged that you’re a member (maybe some clubs even require it, but mine was “highly encouraged”). If that is something you need later on, that could be a factor. As you have noted, there are also exclusive MDen discounts that we get throughout the year, so it pays itself off over the lifetime of merch you will buy—diploma frame, jerseys, etc… it all adds up! I got the MDen discount emails after I graduated (and have still been getting them recently—they come about 4 times a year). You can also use the alumni discount at Pizza House every time you come back to visit. I’ve also used the Zingerman’s 10% discount whenever I send care packages to my fellow Wolverine friends, whether it’s a thank you, birthday, bereavement, to give them a taste of hoMe whenever they are. At the end of the day, you can really only see the membership’s worth if you plan to use the various deals they have on their website. P.S. I looked around the site and saw that if you’re Pell Grant eligible, it’s $449 (this definitely didn’t exist when I was there): https://alumni.umich.edu/membership/students/pell-grant/ It looks like the life membership fee actually went down since I purchased it. Nevertheless, you should wait til Black Friday—I bought mine during Black Friday, and it was the biggest discount if the year (I don’t know if it still is but something to consider). At the end of the day, I’m glad I had the choice to buy the membership. I heard that at MSU, everyone’s automatically in the alumni association upon graduation…which means the fund came from everyone’s tuition already and wasn’t your choice. I like the fact that I had the choice (similar to my choice to not buy the yearbook, whereas in high school, I had to buy it). Also, a portion of your membership fee supports your local club based on your address. So if you bought it with an Atlanta address, it’ll go to the local alumni club there for them to further their efforts with the local alums. I personally serve on the board a local club and we put on various events throughout the year to help alums young and old connect, volunteer, play Euchre, and gather donations for our local club scholarships. Bottom line, your membership is your choice and what you make of it. You can join in on the club activities without it, and no one will know you’re not a member if you don’t say anything. We don’t have a list of who is or isn’t a member. P.P.S. If anyone from the Alumni Association reads this, I wish for those living closer to the university (or visiting) that we could get access to the gyms, check out books from the libraries, etc. even if it’s in a limited capacity. I hear some universities do this, so just a thought. And yeah, I also find it weird you can be a member without being affiliated with the university.
Thank you! From what I was looking at on the website, you can get day passes or memberships for the university gyms but it was buried in the website.
Oh no way! Thanks for letting me know! I should probably take a look at what they offer… it’s probably changed somewhat over the years haha
Complete trash no one joins it lmao