Report finds college giving has ‘hit a wall’
U.S. colleges and universities again set a record in donations for 2008’s fiscal year, bringing in $31.6 billion, though observers warn that the economy’s decline will become apparent in 2009 and 2010 giving.
According to a report released this week by the Council for Aid to Education, a New York-based nonprofit organization, contributions rose 6 percent over 2007’s $29.8 billion. In all, 1,052 institutions, including several in the Pittsburgh area, responded to CAE’s annual survey on donations received in 2008.
“Even at institutions that reported healthy gains in fiscal 2008, advancement professionals told us they had ‘hit a wall’ in January 2009 and that the decline was substantial,” said Ann Kaplan, the survey’s director. “Both the number and value of contributions dropped early in the calendar year.”
Since the CAE survey included donations only through June 30, 2008, it did not capture the impact of the crumbling economy in the fourth quarter of the year.
The largest recipient, according to the survey, was Stanford University, which raised $785 million. Following were Harvard University, at $650 million, and Columbia University, at $495 million.
At $127 million, the University of Pittsburgh raised the third highest amount in Pennsylvania and increased donations about 4 percent from the prior year payday loan in advance. It came third after the University of Pennsylvania and The Pennsylvania State University, which respectively brought in $476 million and $176 million.
Carnegie Mellon University raised $95.3 million, up 28 percent from $74.7 million in 2007, according to the CAE report.
Both Oakland-based CMU and Pitt are in the midst of $1 billion capital campaigns.
Most of the other local colleges and universities that provided numbers to CAE saw gains over 2007, including Washington and Jefferson College, where donations jumped 103 percent, from $6.5 million to $13.2 million. At Chatham University, donations nearly tripled, from $4.3 million to about $12.4 million.
Duquesne University’s donations dipped slightly, from $11.5 million in 2007 to $11 million last year.
About half of all schools reporting posted increases in support, and half reported declines, according to the CAE, which has been researching higher education since 1952 .
As a whole group, donations rose 6 percent, but removing the top 20 institutions by contributions, giving actually declined 4.2 percent, according to the report.
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