This is an interesting analysis by a Virginia Tech fan who posts a lot of analyses. Everything is verbatim. The date of this work is August 18, 2022. P.S. I know the quantity of Living Alumni is slightly outdated. But not by much. I cannot vouch for the average grad salary he uses.
Here's a way of looking at ACC schools that you may have never thought of before (at least, I hadn't). If we start with the number of living alumni for each school and multiply that by the average salary for graduates of that school, we get a potential pool of money from which donations, ticket purchases, etc. can be generated. Here's the chart:
Tells an interesting story, doesn't it? First, it seems like we may have detected the reason for UNC's out-sized influence on the ACC - 20 billion reasons, in fact.
Are you surprised that Pitt is so close at $19 billion? I know I was. Virginia Tech, Syracuse, and Florida State are all close behind, although FSU achieves this in a much different way.
BC and Duke are in the middle of the pack, despite having the highest per graduate incomes.
No one should be surprised that Wake Forest is last - it's tough to overcome the tiny number of alumni - but what are Miami, Notre Dame, Clemson, and Louisville doing so low? Answer: they all have small enrollments, which leads to fewer living alumni. However, in all of these cases the schools are able to overcome this by tapping into their "t-shirt fans" for ticket sales and donations.
Indeed, the better question might be why Pitt, VT and Syracuse aren't getting more donations than they do?
Here's a way of looking at ACC schools that you may have never thought of before (at least, I hadn't). If we start with the number of living alumni for each school and multiply that by the average salary for graduates of that school, we get a potential pool of money from which donations, ticket purchases, etc. can be generated. Here's the chart:
| ACC School | #Living | $AvgSal. | Total potential$ |
| North Carolina | 335,000 | $62,000 | $20,770,000,000 |
| Pittsburgh | 331,873 | $58,000 | $19,248,634,000 |
| Virginia Tech | 255,000 | $73,000 | $18,615,000,000 |
| Syracuse | 258,000 | $71,000 | $18,318,000,000 |
| Florida State | 360,000 | $50,000 | $18,000,000,000 |
| Virginia | 230,000 | $77,000 | $17,710,000,000 |
| Boston College | 182,736 | $93,000 | $16,994,448,000 |
| Duke | 172,120 | $93,000 | $16,007,160,000 |
| NC State | 250,000 | $61,000 | $15,250,000,000 |
| Georgia Tech | 166,000 | $88,000 | $14,608,000,000 |
| Miami | 188,620 | $67,000 | $12,637,540,000 |
| Notre Dame | 130,000 | $89,000 | $11,570,000,000 |
| Clemson | 150,000 | $64,000 | $9,600,000,000 |
| Louisville | 141,000 | $50,944 | $7,183,104,000 |
| Wake Forest | 72,452 | $75,000 | $5,433,900,000 |
Are you surprised that Pitt is so close at $19 billion? I know I was. Virginia Tech, Syracuse, and Florida State are all close behind, although FSU achieves this in a much different way.
BC and Duke are in the middle of the pack, despite having the highest per graduate incomes.
No one should be surprised that Wake Forest is last - it's tough to overcome the tiny number of alumni - but what are Miami, Notre Dame, Clemson, and Louisville doing so low? Answer: they all have small enrollments, which leads to fewer living alumni. However, in all of these cases the schools are able to overcome this by tapping into their "t-shirt fans" for ticket sales and donations.
Indeed, the better question might be why Pitt, VT and Syracuse aren't getting more donations than they do?
