“Pay your tuition with eggs!” proclaimed one ad that ran in Ivy League papers. Another ad in the Yale Daily offered students that are “intelligent, athletic, blonde, at least 5’10”, have a 1400+ SAT score” $50,000 for a donation. Still another that ran in the Stanford Daily offered $100,000 for the eggs of a woman with “proven college-level athletic ability.”
More and more often, college-aged women consider donating their eggs to fertility clinics as a means of financial support.
College is expensive and students are always searching for interesting and easy ways to finance their education and social lives. They find part time jobs. They pursue work study. Some have even offered there minds and bodies for medical and psychological experiments. Now you can add egg donation to that list.
“Snap! I would do that in a heartbeat,” said Cati Marzi ’06. “I have to make tuition to be able to lead the life I want to live. Right now I make nine bucks an hour. [Donating my eggs] is $5000 for something I have plenty of.”
The financial benefits of egg donation are leading to increasing numbers of ads with financial incentives in college papers and they are working. According to The Stanford Daily, over 200 women responded to the $100,000 ad.
Still, not everyone is swayed by the monetary compensation. “The money appeals to me, but I wouldn’t consider giving up any of my reproductive cells for extra beer money on the weekends,” said Maureen Hession ’06.
However, those looking to donate eggs shouldn’t expect to make exceptionally large sums of money. The average egg donor receives between $3,500 and $15,000. Only exceptional candidates, including those with high standardized test scores and certain ethnic backgrounds receive large sums of money.
Additionally, Jewish and Asian egg donors are in the highest demand and can expect to receive higher compensation.
All donors must be at least 21 years of age.
Students may be surprised to learn how long and involved the process can be. A typical time for donation including tests, doctor’s appointments and retrieval can take several months according to the website of Egg Donation, Inc., a California based clinic.
Women must take daily hormone replacements before undergoing general anesthesia to retrieve the eggs. After donation, women will still be able to conceive their own children.
Whether your eggs result in pregnancy or not, they are still compensated. Dawn Hunt, president of Fertility Alternatives, Inc. pays some before, during, and after the cycle is complete.
“Payment is for the inconvenience and pain, or discomfort of the cycle. Not for the eggs themselves,” said Hunt.
According to the IRS the money made from fertility donations must be claimed as income. The cost of potential parents to obtain donors, however, can be written off as a deductible medical expense.
But women aren’t the only ones jumping on the fertility bandwagon. Men can also be compensated for donating sperm. The average compensation for sperm donation according to New England Cryogenic Center is around $175 for intelligent, healthy, attractive candidates.
“I would only donate sperm to help a close friend. I wouldn’t want my sperm to end up with an anonymous recipient,” Luke Kloza ’06. “I would feel uneasy that there could be a child out there who was 50 percent me that I didn’t know about.”
Ultimately, both women and men have to deal with the moral and emotional issues they may face when donating.
“There are many women who would make fantastic mothers who can’t have babies or have defective eggs, and I know mine are functional and normal,” said Marzi. “I don’t know if I would actually go through with it … but I am certainly not opposed.”
The opportunity to help a couple that wants to have a child can also be a compelling reason for the procedure.
“Not only would [students] be helping themselves financially to help pay for college or put money in savings…by simply giving their own eggs, that will be thrown out every month anyway, they help a loving couple who are desperate to become parents,” said Hunt.
Hunt added that many women do not feel a particular loss after donating. “Most women don’t have emotional issues, but it is understandable to want to know what the child looks like, where the child is being raised, and if the child is OK,” said Hunt. “It’s hard to feel loss for a cell.”
Hession agrees there would be an element of curiosity. “I’m afraid I’d be walking down the street one day and be like ‘Crap! That kid looks like me.'”
Additionally, Fairfield women have to deal with the ethical issues of being on a Catholic campus. According to the Pope’s “Instruction of Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation,” any form of sexual expression that separated the sexual union of the couple from the direct possibility of pregnancy was to be shunned. This includes contraception and egg and sperm donation, among other things.
At the end of the day, it comes down to a personal choice.
“The risks are very minor compared to the gain,” said Hunt.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it,” said Hession. “It’s just a personal choice that I wouldn’t make.”
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