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The Cougar Marching Band occupies a special place in the hearts of Cougs everywhere and adds to the spirit of every WSU event

In recognition of this, the Washington State University Alumni Association announced in April its plan to match $10,000 in gifts to the CMB. To date the match is more than halfway complete, and there’s still time to join in!

Join the WSU Alumni Association challenge match by making a gift to the Cougar Marching Band today!

The CMB encourages and inspires Cougar Pride, carries on WSU traditions, represents WSU at events all year long, and, most importantly, performs THE BEST fight song in the nation!

When you join the match and make a gift to the CMB, you support Cougar Pride and the 200+ students who proudly practice, work, sacrifice, and perform for WSU—rain or shine, snow or hail, hot or cold, Pullman or San Antonio.

Gifts to the Cougar Marching Band directly support:

Instruments
  • Every time the CMB marches onto the field, you are seeing approximately $350,000 worth of instruments, which need to be cleaned, repaired, maintained, and occasionally replaced, every year.
  • A single sousaphone costs $8,000. Those saxophones, trombones, and baritones? They’re about $2,000 apiece. Most instruments cost around $1,500 to replace.
  • Your gift to the Marching Band Excellence Fund allows us to keep our instruments in good working order and replace the ones that wear down.
Performances
  • Those distinctive crimson Cougar Marching Band uniforms set WSU apart. Each one costs $500. You help the CMB look great, feel great—and play great!
  • Traveling a 245-member band (plus instruments) takes six buses and a lot of hotel rooms. Annual travel for the band can quickly reach tens of thousands of dollars.
  • They also have to eat! Covering meals for the CMB at a single football game can cost more than $2,000!
Student Success
  • That’s right, they are also students who come from all over the nation, study in nearly every college at WSU, and hold themselves to a high academic standard.
  • In the 2019-20 school year, the average GPA for a CMB member was 3.56. Nearly 85% of band members had at least a 3.0 GPA.
  • Despite the time commitment and rigors of practice and performance, 61% of band members did the same or BETTER academically during marching band season than the spring semester.
  • Many CMB members say they chose to attend WSU because of the opportunity to play in the marching band.
  • About 15% of CMB members are first-generation college students.