Help keep free and responsible press alive. Please donate to the Daily Collegian.

Dear students, faculty, staff and cherished alumni!

Your student-run and editorially independent campus newspaper needs you. Since 1890, the Massachusetts Daily Collegian has served the UMass Amherst community with pride and purpose. 

But not unlike many of you, we remain saddled in school debt. 

Specifically, we must finish paying off a loan to the Student Government Association that dates back more than a decade, long before anyone on staff knew of its existence. We’re pleased and grateful to say that thanks to the generosity and investments of so many, we’re in the home stretch of paying down this burden.

Debt is crushing. In a moment where the Collegian is looking to evolve its digital news site and expand resources for its journalists to better cover our community, the remaining $15,000 looms large. Our deadline is December 2022. 

Once the debt is gone, here’s what we plan to do: 

• Create a better audience experience on our digital news site.
• Dedicate dollars toward public records requests we cannot currently afford.
• Enhance our podcast department’s access to essential multimedia equipment.
• Ensure the future sustainability of the paper by expanding our site’s ad revenue capabilities. 
• Reserve funds for writers to travel to UMass sports championships and news events.
• Increase our on-campus and online presence through expanding multimedia content creation. 

The local media landscape is shrinking. As crises evolve and the campus reels or reacts, the Collegian wants to focus not on financial woes that predate our staffers, but on what’s really important — continuing to hold the University accountable while finally growing as a newspaper in the digital age. There is no other news outlet as dedicated to the unique needs of the University community, as the Daily Collegian. 

Please donate what you can. While we stand in awe of anyone able to afford to give more than $50, we deeply appreciate anyone who can give even the cost of a cup of People’s Market coffee. 

If you have any questions, concerns or words of advice on how we can make this campaign as successful as possible, please reach out to thecollegian@gmail.com. We sincerely appreciate any help we can get in these hard times. 

Thank you, 

Daily Collegian Staff