How common is it for alumni to go to the homecoming of their alma mater?

21 comments

1. Mine was yesterday. I could not go, but a lot of friends did.

   I kind of wish I went, but also don’t care that much.

2. Only a very small percentage of alumni remain active with their alma mater. Like, less than 5%.

   I suppose I technically have 4 alma maters. Only one have I attended homecoming and even then it was just because I wanted to see the football game that day.

   Most alumni don’t even donate money to their Alma Mater regularly, based on my limited experience in University fundraising. Getting alumni to attend anything was hard

3. Depends if the live in the area or have kids attending

4. Colleges vary. Wildly. Alumni from a big state school are much less common to stay active versus a school like Notre Dame.

   High school? Eh. Not really.

5. Depends on how into college they were. I’ve never been to mine and I doubt I ever will.

6. I’ve never gone, and never would. I like to remember my school as it was, not as it is. Im not even sure how I’d feel going back honestly, I didn’t leave on the best terms.

   The only person I’ve known that went to their homecoming every year was a Clemson graduate.

7. We used to go for the big bonfire the night before the football game and visit with friends – before our kids were born. Then an 18 year hiatus until our daughter started there(we went for 4 years). She and her husband went for eight years after she graduated until her first kid came along and now nobody goes(it was this weekend)

8. I’m kind of a joiner and still have never attended any for any of my 3 alma maters (high school, college, law school.)

9. High school or college? I never went to either but I think high school homecoming is likely more popular.

10. I have been to two of mine since graduating college. Never been to my high school one. I graduated college in 05.

11. I am not really into sports but I am in favor of kids enjoying some good clean fun. At most I am “friends” with my high school’s alumni page on FB. I saw that the girls soccer team has established a homecoming game and former soccer players are encouraged to come out. There was a group photo and a few people I recognized were there.

    But overall I don’t think it is a hugely popular thing to do. At lease not something to go out of your way to do. Plenty of people still live in the area and maybe their kids go to the same school district.

12. High school? Seemed relatively common when I was actually in high school. I was in the marching band and we couldn’t sit in the stands on homecoming because it was too crowded. I’ve never been after graduating though.

    I don’t think my undergrad university even has a homecoming. My grad school university (a big ten school that has fans even among people who never attended the school) almost certainly does and I bet a lot of people go.

13. Are we talking about college or high school. High school, some people who stayed in town probably go. College some people travel. There is a huge difference from school to school. I used to work with a lot of people from Penn State when I lived in DC and it seemed like most of them went (not every year but to some). Big football schools that somewhat local people go to probably pack it out.

14. I was in a small fraternity in college. The first homecoming after I graduated, my entire pledge class (nine guys) showed up, including two who flew in from the west coast. It turned out all of us weren’t quite ready to move on and were missing the rich social life we had had.

    I emailed the group four years later to see if anyone was going to our five year reunion. No one went. We had moved on by then.

15. I haven’t been to a homecoming yet. The alumni association at my college is really only good for blowing my phone up around Thanksgiving to beg for money (not exaggerating, three phone calls while I was at work, two came 13 minutes apart).

16. I would if I am ever in the area at that time of year. I’m not making a special trip for it though and I’ve never even been in the same city when they are happening.

17. Depends on the college and such. My school has class reunions every 5 years on homecoming weekends and I always go to them. But don’t make any special effort the other years.

18. Usually most of them go for 1-4 years after they graduate, because they still know familiar faces and names, but usually after the second and third year, most stop going, because of the lack of familiar faces and they will go for special anniversaries either 5, 10, or 20 years etc.

19. I know a few people who do go back every few years. A big reason they do is that their kids are attending their alma mater.
    I get together with a group of my college friends every fall for the last 26 years, but we don’t go to homecoming. (We’ve joked that we have our own fraternity, the Kappa Renta Friendas.)

20. Not common at all. They would never have it in their budget for what it would take me to spend my time going to a homecoming.

21. Very common for SC. Speaking of which, I need to book my flight