And since I'm living in California, I think I'd better post this 1943 song from Stanford, even though it doesn't have the dying mother:

Song of Colleges (Stanford)

Sing a song of colleges,
Tell us where to go.
Oxford where the knowledge is,
Cornell where they row,
Harvard for her blooming swells,
Yale for pluck and vim,
Dear old Princeton for her sports,
But Stanford for her men.

Sing a song of colleges,
Tell us where to go.
Caltech where the knowledge is,
UCLA for her show,
sc for her football team,
Cal where they let you in.
Stanford is the place for me.
To HELL with the rest of them.

And I guess I'd sing this to the tune of "Sing a Song of Sixpence."