Trust me, what the donors are looking at/have seen is a TREMENDOUS amount of ($$) loss of both season ticket holders and alums buying single game tickets. Students are not a revenue source - they're mostly just noise and atmosphere. And that mostly has been happening steadily as Oscar has turned the vise but took a serious nosedive after the Brad Debacle. They are afraid of it happening again with greater "trajectory" next year if Oscar returns to the area outside the coaching box.
To see that not occur, they will pay.