“A Joy to Be Part of This”

On a hot July evening, senior consumer affairs major Jeff Skinner ’00, M.S. ’08, invited his girlfriend, Lori Kocer ’00, to go on a walk after their dinner date.  

As they approached the south steps of the Campanile, he pulled out the rose he had hidden earlier in the day and got down on one knee.  

Nearly 30 years later, the season ticket holders often return to their alma mater to visit their daughter, Claire, a freshman consumer behavior major, and enjoy Jackrabbit Football and basketball games. Their daughter, Alida, is a 2025 psychology graduate of SDSU.

“I don’t know if there are very many people who are bigger SDSU Football fans than I am right now,” said Jeff, explaining that, in the last 18 years, he has only ever missed one home game. 

“One of the things we enjoy most about being season ticket holders is it is an excuse to get together with our college friends who don’t live close,” Lori said. “We invite different friends to every game.” 

College friends introduced Jeff and Lori their freshman year. When they reflect on their marriage, friendships, and careers, nearly every aspect of their adult life can be traced back to the decision they made to attend SDSU.  

This is the reason they give back, along with the fact that Lori worked as a “Phone Jack” fundraising for the SDSU Foundation (now the SDSU Alumni & Foundation) when she was a student. 

“I learned through this job that there is a big difference between the tuition we pay as students and the cost to run the university,” Lori explained. “Great things happen because of donors.”  

When the couple started receiving calls from the Phone Jacks after they graduated, they initially gave $25 each time. Then, 18 years ago, they became Jackrabbit season ticket holders.  

In 2015, they sponsored the Jeff and Lori Skinner Endowed Consumer Affairs Scholarship Fund (now within the Ness School of Management and Economics). 

Just a few years after their oldest enrolled at SDSU, the Skinners changed the beneficiary designation of their donor advised fund through the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation. When the Skinners pass, the donor advised fund will support SDSU, their church, and other charities the couple cares about.   

Not only do Jeff and Lori feel good about giving to SDSU, but they appreciate that there are many options available to give. “It is nice to be able to give to something we care about and receive a tax break,” Jeff said, referencing the donor advised fund that he and Lori give to at the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation. 

“From a bookkeeping standpoint, we do not need to itemize a bunch of charities. We just list one donor advised fund on our taxes, and we do not have to recognize taxes on the stocks allocated to the fund,” Jeff said. 

Professors who care 

For both Jeff and Lori, the decision to attend SDSU was made last minute, landing them both on the first floor of Waneta Hall because their first-choice dorms were full. 

Although the couple waited to commit because other universities were recruiting them, they both said, as high school seniors, SDSU was on their short list. 

Jeff was familiar with SDSU because he spent a lot of time on campus as president of Harrisburg High School’s FFA chapter.  

As an editor of The Cub, Chamberlain High School’s newspaper, Lori attended SDSU Journalism Camp the summer before her senior year. 

“The year I attended journalism camp, we learned how to lay out a newspaper on a computer. I returned to my school and taught the staff how to do this,” Lori said, who enrolled in broadcast journalism as a freshman. 

Jeff, on the other hand, was not quite sure what his field of study would be. As a sophomore, his general studies advisor guided him to consumer affairs after asking him what he wanted to do. “I told her that I wanted to go into banking or something business related or sales related, but I did not want to take a lot of math classes,” Jeff explained. “She said, ‘Oh, you need to take a look at consumer affairs because consumer affairs is what we call the ‘people side of business.’ It turned out to be the perfect fit. I only had to take algebra.” 

Jeff enjoyed the classes, but he still was not clear about his career path until his favorite professor, Bernadine Enveldson, intervened.  

“I and some other students were helping her carry some boxes. She asked us what we wanted to do after graduation... I said, ‘I don’t know. I will probably go into human resources.’ She stopped in the stairwell and said, ‘Jeff, you’re not going into human resources.’ I asked her what she thought I should do, and she said, ‘You should be a financial advisor.’ My next question was, ‘What’s a financial advisor?’” 

The timing was perfect. Enveldson was going to a workshop hosted by her financial advisor in Sioux Falls the following week. She invited Jeff to travel with her and her husband to the event so he could learn more. 

Jeff liked what he learned. He interned with Prudential Financial the spring semester of his senior year and started working for the company as a financial advisor in February 2000. 

“I really like what I do,” Jeff said. “I feel good about the work I do because I am able to help people reach their financial goals.” 

After college, the couple moved to Sioux Falls. While Jeff began helping clients manage their finances and plan for retirement, Lori worked in marketing for the Argus Leader and then for the Washington Pavilion.  

When Claire was born, Lori needed more flexibility, so she transitioned careers and began helping Jeff manage marketing and bookkeeping for his business. “My dad is a CPA,” Lori said. “I actually avoided accounting classes in college. It’s become a family joke.” 

Although their parents gave them the choice, Alida and Claire also chose to attend SDSU. 

“We never said they had to go to SDSU, but we were a bit unfair to other schools because we took them to so many SDSU events and activities when they were growing up,” Jeff said. 

As parents of Jackrabbits, Lori said they have a newfound respect for SDSU. “There was just such a comfort level for us when we sent our oldest to SDSU,” she explained. “For what SDSU offers, it’s really hard for other universities to compete tuition-wise…and this is before your child receives scholarships.” 

Written by Lura Roti