STUDENT occupation money in FEC itemizations

A high dollar mean for a student label

$142,935,090 across 12,200 donor records is about $11,716 per donor record. Across 226,355 itemizations the mean is about $631 per contribution. About 19 contributions per donor record is the repeat rate. Those means do not match a picture of only small undergraduate checks.

Possible filing reasons include graduate students, donors who kept STUDENT on forms while also having other income, family gifts associated with a student name, or occupation text that lagged a career change. The packet does not distinguish those cases. It only reports the three STUDENT facts.

Researchers should treat the label as filed text. Inflating or discounting the $142,935,090 based on assumptions about student wealth would add numbers the FEC file does not contain.

Self-reporting and contribution limits still apply

Federal contribution limits and itemization rules apply to the contributor as a person, not to the occupation word. STUDENT does not create a separate legal category in the bulk file. Committees still itemize qualifying amounts and still record occupation under best efforts.

A donor who wrote STUDENT on some gifts and ENGINEER or CONSULTANT on others will appear in multiple occupation totals. Occupation is per transaction.

What 12,200 donors is not

12,200 is not U.S. college enrollment and not a unique-student count after identity resolution. It is contributor records attached to STUDENT itemizations. Parents, spouses, or similarly named people are not identified by the occupation string.

Employer fields on student rows are often blank, school names, or “none.” Employer is not one of this packet’s facts. Industry pages will not equal the STUDENT occupation total. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $142.9 million. That compact figure is the same headline amount as the full dollar total on this page, rounded to one decimal place in millions.

How to use the occupation hub

Cite $142,935,090, 226,355 contributions, and 12,200 donors. Open the STUDENT occupation page for recipient and donor rows. Compare neighboring titles on the occupations index without merging them into a youth-vote story the occupation column cannot support.

Party and candidate office are other FEC fields. This overlay does not assign them. Source: Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $142.9 million. That compact figure is the same headline amount as the full dollar total on this page, rounded to one decimal place in millions.

Limits

Unitemized receipts are omitted. The harvested facts have no cycle year. Live filters on the hub may change displayed sums. Do not treat STUDENT as proof of the contributor’s age or enrollment status.

Researchers comparing occupation keys should keep STUDENT on its own line with its own dollar, contribution, and donor facts. The occupations index is the inventory of neighboring strings. Industry pages remain an employer-side cut and should not be added to this occupation total. Unitemized receipts never carry an occupation code, so $142.9 million is itemized activity for this string in the loaded extract. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $142.9 million. That compact figure is the same headline amount as the full dollar total on this page, rounded to one decimal place in millions.

Why STUDENT means are a caution, not a campus portrait

STUDENT is $142.9 million on 226,355 itemizations from 12,200 donor records. About $11,716 per donor record and about $631 per itemization are high for a word that searchers associate with small campus gifts. The file does not explain the mix. Possible filing reasons include graduate students, occupation text that lagged a job, or large itemizations that still carry this label. None of those reasons is in the packet facts.

Treat STUDENT as filed text. Contribution limits still apply to the person, not to the word. 12,200 is not enrollment. Unitemized student gifts are omitted. Industry pages will not map onto this key. For citation: occupation equals STUDENT, dollars equal $142,935,090, contributions equal 226,355, donors equal 12,200.

Questions

How much have STUDENT-occupation donors given?

Occupation STUDENT is attached to $142,935,090 in LobbyVault’s FEC bulk index, from 226,355 contributions and 12,200 donor records. The total is itemized occupation money, not a campus enrollment match. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total. The live hub may apply cycle filters; this packet is the harvested occupation key.

Why is average giving high for a student label?

$142,935,090 across 12,200 donor records is about $11,716 per record, and about $631 per itemization. The packet does not explain the mix of large gifts versus repeat lines. Treat those as file means, not a typical student check.

Does STUDENT mean the donor was enrolled in college?

Not necessarily. Occupation is self-reported text. Committees are not required to verify enrollment. 12,200 is a contributor-record count, not a registrar extract. The matching contribution count is 226,355 and the matching donor-record count is 12,200. Those three numbers are occupation-string totals from FEC Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault, not a licensed roster and not a party split.

Are student gifts subject to the same itemization rules?

Yes. Occupation does not change itemization thresholds. $142,935,090 is the sum of itemized lines that carried STUDENT. Unitemized amounts are outside this total. The matching contribution count is 226,355 and the matching donor-record count is 12,200. Those three numbers are occupation-string totals from FEC Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault, not a licensed roster and not a party split.