STUDENT

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.

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.