Having worked in College Advancement, I find a big difference in the commitment the alumni of the college have versus those of the other programs and for obvious reasons: a summer at Mills is hardly likely to garner as much connection with the college as 4 years as an undergraduate. The alumni from the other programs also have other colleges and universities that they are more committed to than Middlebury. So while numerically expanding the alumni base from 30,000 to 80,000 makes us feel well connected, this feeling may be insignificant when it comes to returns.

As a freshman at Middlebury I hope there are flaws in my analysis above and the wider alumni base does translate into more opportunities for the college, but I for one would not bank on it.