USD’s Telefunding Center and its purpose

KATIE FOREMAN / FEATURE EDITOR

Many USD students may have never realized exactly where their scholarship or financial aid is coming from, or never even thought about it. But there is one source that is providing a large portion of this scholarship money: USD’s Telefunding Center. The Telefunding Center is a mostly student-operated center in Degheri Alumni Center responsible for raising money for student  scholarships, financial aid, new  technology, new buildings and more. The call center staffs 35 students every year who call 35,000 alumni and parents to gather donations; in the past years, they have raised over $400,000 annually. In addition to Telefunding Manager Ahnyte Gomez-Cervantes, who oversees students, there are student-managers and student-callers in charge of collecting these funds for USD. Students spoke about an average day in the life of a telefunder, as well as what a rewarding experience it has been.

USD junior Alaon Saulet joined the telefunding team last spring and explained his process of making calls. 

“When I call, I usually ask first why they chose to go to USD, to kind of resonate with them and see if we have any similarity or something in common. And after that, I always love to hear from them. I like being a listener, so I let them talk about their experience at USD a bit and the things they  liked about it hopefully,” Saulet said. “After  I’m done resonating with them on that, I usually ask them for any advice,  like if they’re a business major or anything, then I’ll ask them advice on being a business major. Or if they’re not a business major, and they may just have some notes, I’ll just ask them about advice on college in general, and I always write it down.” 

Saulet  explained that  he keeps a paper with different pieces of advice or words of wisdom that alumni and parents have given him, which he values greatly. But he cited that the true purpose of making these calls is the way it can impact students’ lives. 

   “I feel like my role is to do whatever I can to raise money for students and student opportunities for the student scholarships for the university,” Saulet said. “Not only are they [alumni and parents] donating back to the university, which is the no. 1 most important thing, but also they’re giving back to your life, future and career, so it’s really sweet.” 

Saulet acknowledged that the best part of working at the Telefunding Center is the people he works with. 

“The best part of it is definitely just the environment. I have a lot of friends and made a lot of friends through telefunding,” Saulet said. “Everyone’s just willing to help each other out — everyone has different calling styles, which is super cool.” 

Telefunding  Manager Ahnyte Gomez-Cervantes shared how telefunding provides the opportunity to learn skills applicable to post-grad life. 

“Negotiation is something we teach here. Most students I’ve had have never negotiated talking about money with someone. They maybe negotiated their curfew with their parents, but here we teach them how to talk about money in a polite, respectful way,” Gomez-Cervantes said.

USD junior Lainey Tomasoski, has been a student-caller for the Telefunding Center since spring of her first year at USD. 

“The people that I work with, honestly, are really great… I think the school has really done a great job to make it a really good work environment, and one that’s fun to come to work in,” Tomasoski said. “It is a really nice break from everything else that’s going on.” 

Tomasoski explained how she initially started telefunding due to the fact that she just needed a job, but it ended up being a very positive experience. Before calling, the telefunders often play a game of Pictionary or Catchphrase to get in the flow of shift.

“I love it,” Tomasoski said. “It’s great getting to talk to alumni about their experience. They also give you really good advice, which is great — just as a current student, it is helpful.” 

Tomasoski is not alone in her appreciation for alumni guidance. Telefunding student-manager and USD junior Armando Vasquez-Green shared how impactful his time at telefunding has been for him, and why donations from alumni are so important. 

“The best part of the job is that we raise money for scholarships, student orgs, activities, things like Torero Treks. We raise a lot of that money from alumni, because a lot of those things don’t get funding through the school. They only get funded through alumni.So I’m super thankful to be able to create opportunities and give back to the school and my fellow students,” Vasquez-Green said. “The second thing I’d probably say is just the community in telefunding. I honestly really vibe with everybody there. I have a deep appreciation for them and obviously the work that they do.” 

Vasquez-Green has been a student-manager since his sophomore year and gave more detail on what his role is. 

“[What I do] is provide coaching for the callers, provide advice whenever they need it and keep the workspace lighthearted and fun,” Vasquez-Green said. “We put on music, we play games with the callers and we also organize the different lists that they call — so whether it’s alumni, parents and stuff like that — we make sure that they’re calling the right people at the right time.” 

Vasquez-Green noted that he was honored to be promoted as a student-manager and only hopes that other students can realize what the Telefunding Center does for them. 

“I would really hope that other students can understand the importance of what we’re raising money for,” Vasquez-Green said. “At the end of the day, all of us students are going to become alumni. And so one day, we’re going to be getting those calls from kids in the call center asking for $100 or $50 out of our pockets…I just really hope students can get into that mode of giving back and understand that giving back is super important, because a lot of opportunities they have right now [at USD] come from alumni giving back.” Vasquez-Green emphasized that whatever people can give, no matter how much or little, can go a long way. 

Saulet also mentioned that there are so many different causes  that people can donate to at USD, whatever their niche or interest may be. 

“There’s something there. There’s an opportunity for them [alumni and parents] to give to so many different areas of the school. If they’re not resonating with one area — let’s say that they didn’t like the business school, but they love InterVarsity and the Christian organization — they can give there,” Saulet said. “It’s [the funds raised] not going to the university…this is to help students like myself.”

Saulet and Vasquez-Green both agreed the Telefunding Center is meant to help students’ lives and relieve them of some financial stress, which the center is doing every day, and many USD students may not notice. 

The Telefunding Center is currently hiring graduate and undergraduate students for the fall if anyone is in need of a job. The application    can be   found   online   at 

www.sandiego.edu/giving/telefunding/.