College Student Asked Strangers for Pennies for an Unusual Reason
- In 1987, Mike Hayes, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Illinois, launched an unconventional fundraising campaign to finance his college education.
- The total cost for four years of tuition and fees at the University of Illinois was estimated at approximately $28,000.
- Family circumstances further motivated his decision to seek independent funding.
In 1987, Mike Hayes, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Illinois, launched an unconventional fundraising campaign to finance his college education. Rather than relying on student loans or requesting that his parents take on additional debt, Hayes sought to raise the necessary funds by asking millions of strangers to send him a single penny.
The financial challenge Hayes faced was significant. The total cost for four years of tuition and fees at the University of Illinois was estimated at approximately $28,000. While Hayes had managed to save $2,500 from a job as a drugstore clerk, this amount was insufficient to cover the full cost of his degree.
Family circumstances further motivated his decision to seek independent funding. Hayes’s father worked as a pharmacist and his mother as a school teacher. By the time Mike graduated from Rochelle High School in June 1987, his parents had already put his four older siblings through college. Although his parents were willing to help, Hayes decided he did not want them to go into debt on his behalf.
The Strategy of Small Donations
Hayes calculated that he needed 2.8 million people to each donate one penny to meet his financial goal. He operated on the belief that such a small request would not be viewed as a hardship by the donors. To reach a population of that size, Hayes sought the assistance of Bob Greene, a nationally syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
At the time, Greene had worked for the Tribune for nearly ten years and his column appeared in more than 200 newspapers across the United States. Greene agreed to share the request with his readership on September 6, 1987, explaining who Hayes was and why he was soliciting pennies.
Bob Greene’s column, September 6, 1987
Just one penny,Hayes said.
The appeal was distributed through letters, phone calls, and media interviews. While some radio stations initially viewed the idea with skepticism, they still broadcast the request, helping the story gain national momentum.
Campaign Results and Logistics
The response to the request was widespread, with donations arriving from all fifty U.S. States as well as from international locations. Although the request was specifically for a penny, many donors sent larger denominations, including nickels, dimes, and dollar bills.
The campaign faced practical hurdles. Sorting through thousands of individual coins was a labor-intensive process, and the cost of postage often exceeded the value of the donation itself; for instance, the stamp required to mail a penny cost 22 cents. Despite these inefficiencies, the volume of contributions grew rapidly.
the campaign was successful. Hayes received tens of thousands of dollars in donations, which provided enough funding to cover his tuition, books, and living expenses at the University of Illinois, allowing him to complete his education without incurring debt.
A Precursor to Modern Crowdfunding
The campaign occurred long before the existence of the World Wide Web or the emergence of digital fundraising platforms. Modern services such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe now provide structured environments for individuals to solicit small donations from a global community to fund projects or educational costs.
Hayes’s 1987 effort is noted as an early example of crowdfunding, demonstrating the ability to reach a massive audience to aggregate small contributions into a significant sum of money. By leveraging the reach of a syndicated columnist, Hayes achieved a level of collective funding that is now common through social media and peer-to-peer lending services.