$ is what matters
Posted by saintdeb on February 20, 2008
Colleges and Universities in USA are very richly endowed! I sometimes feel what varsities here in India would do if they ever get their hands on such high amounts of money!!! I would quote a few excerpts from an Associated Press article which I saw a few minutes back!
It seems that college donations have gone up for 2007 in USA and reached approximately $30 billion. However, what is really eye opening is the disproportionate nature of the endowments, quoting from the article,
“…….the already wealthy schools — with leading faculty researchers and the most sophisticated fundraising operations — had the most success attracting new donations. The top 20 fundraisers raised $518 million more than the previous year, and a total of $7.66 billion. They account for just 2 percent of survey respondents, but accounted for more than a quarter of all contributions to colleges and universities, and nearly one-third of the total increase in giving…….”
Stanford has been the most successful and raised a whooping $832 million (down from $911 million last year) followed by Harvard (getting $614 million). However, the looming economic slowdown might have its toll,
“….. “Anything to do with the economy, when people don’t feel good, whether it’s justified or not, it doesn’t put them in a philanthropic mind-set as easily, there’s no question about it,” said Paul Robell, vice president for development and alumni affairs at the University of Florida. “It’s just really a state of mind more than anything else.”…….”
“The figures come as colleges have faced increasing demands from the public and in Congress to spend more of their endowments, particularly to keep tuition rises in check. In recent months a string of institutions such as Harvard, Dartmouth and Swarthmore have announced significant expansions of financial aid.”
I just hope, things continue to remain good for the foreseeable future! Every time a recession sets in, there is a stagnation of sorts in endowments! And I need funding ( 
who doesn’t)…….
Source: AP
For more information: http://www.cae.org (COUNCIL FOR AID TO EDUCATION)
