Student political contributions from California

The Student–California intersection

Two FEC columns define this tie: occupation STUDENT and donor state CA. Rows matching both sum to $47,307,827, 35,661 contributions, and 1,882 donors. The occupation table without a state cut is $142,935,090, 226,355 contributions, and 12,200 donors. California’s share of the dollars is about 33%; its share of contributions is about 16% (35,661 of 226,355); its share of donors is about 15% (1,882 of 12,200).

A larger dollar share than contribution share means California Student-coded receipts run heavier per row than the national mix, on average across the aggregates. That is a description of the joined totals, not evidence that California students are more politically active than students elsewhere. Filing thresholds, itemization, and who writes “STUDENT” in the occupation box all shape the table.

Put the two totals next to each other and the join is arithmetic, not a story about campuses. California’s $47,307,827 is the STUDENT-and-CA cell. The occupation’s $142,935,090 is the STUDENT cell with every donor state included. Divide those dollars and California is about 33% of the labeled money. Divide 35,661 by 226,355 and California is about 16% of the labeled contributions. Divide 1,882 by 12,200 and California is about 15% of the labeled donors. Those three ratios are the only comparisons this page makes. They do not measure how many people in California are students, how many students itemize, or how much unitemized money exists. They compare two FEC aggregates that share an occupation string and differ by a state filter. That is the relationship the URL is for.

Student as an FEC occupation string

STUDENT is whatever contributors typed. It can include undergraduates, graduate students, people between programs, and anyone who preferred that label to a job title. The national counts—12,200 donors, 226,355 contributions, $142,935,090—are the labeled bucket. Other strings such as GRAD STUDENT or COLLEGE STUDENT, if used, would not be in this occupation total.

The contribution-to-donor ratio nationwide (226,355 gifts from 12,200 people) shows heavy repeat itemization inside the label. This tie does not say how many of those repeats are California’s 1,882 donors versus other states.

California on the donor-state side

The state filter is CA on the contribution record: $47,307,827 from 35,661 contributions and 1,882 donors. That is not a count of students enrolled in California schools, and it is not limited to contributions to California candidates. Donor address and recipient committee are different fields.

California’s overall campaign-finance hub includes every occupation coded to the state. Teachers, engineers, and retirees on that hub are outside this Student join even when they share the CA state code.

What the join is not

This page does not measure youth turnout, campus PACs, or whether Student-coded money caused any electoral result. Occupation plus state is a bookkeeping join. It is not causation, and it is not a comparison of California with New York or Massachusetts Student slices except insofar as those are separate ties with their own facts.

Only itemized individual contributions are included. Unitemized receipts and independent expenditures are omitted. FEC.gov is the source; occupation labels are filer-entered.

Where to go next in the FEC tables

Student donations holds the $142,935,090 national occupation total. California campaign finance holds the state’s itemized individual activity across occupations. All occupations and all FEC ties collect other occupation-state pairs built from the same two fields.

California’s 1,882 Student-coded donors are 15% of the national 12,200. Their $47,307,827 is 33% of $142,935,090. Their 35,661 contributions are 16% of 226,355. Those three percentages are the join. They are not enrollment shares, not turnout, and not a ranking of California universities.

Repeat itemization inside the Student label

Nationally, 12,200 Student-coded donors produced 226,355 itemized contributions. California’s 1,882 donors produced 35,661. Repeat itemization is built into both totals. This page does not say how many of the 35,661 rows are second or third gifts by the same person, only that 1,882 donors and 35,661 contributions are the CA filter on occupation STUDENT.

The Student occupation hub holds $142,935,090 without a California requirement. The California hub holds every occupation coded to CA. This tie is both filters: $47,307,827. Other Student-state pages use the same occupation total and their own state totals; they are not added here. Source: FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates by self-reported occupation and donor state. Occupation labels are filer-entered.

Questions

How much have Student donors in California contributed?

FEC itemized individual contributions from donors listing occupation Student and state California total $47,307,827, from 35,661 contributions and 1,882 donors. Nationwide, Student-coded receipts are $142,935,090 from 226,355 contributions and 12,200 donors. California is about 33% of those dollars.

Are these donors current college students in California?

The occupation field is the self-reported string STUDENT, and the state field is CA on the itemized record. FEC aggregates do not verify enrollment, age, or school. The 1,882 California donors in this join are people whose filings used that pair of labels, not a registrar’s list.

What share of all Student FEC money is from California?

About 33% of the $142,935,090 Student occupation total is in this California join ($47,307,827). California also accounts for about 16% of Student-coded contributions (35,661 of 226,355) and about 15% of Student-coded donors (1,882 of 12,200). Those percentages describe the overlap of two FEC columns.

Does this include money to California statewide candidates only?

No. The state code is the donor’s reported state, not the recipient’s. The $47,307,827 can flow to any FEC-filing committee. This page does not split receipts by office or by in-state versus out-of-state campaigns.