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The University of Michigan announced today that it has completed what it called the largest fundraiser for a public school, generating $ 5 billion. But the flagship may not enjoy long enough first place. The University of Washington is in the middle of its own $ 5 billion campaign.
Coming near there, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is trying to raise $ 4.25 billion, the University of Florida aims to raise $ 3 billion and the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign is aiming for $ 2.25 billion.
"Twenty years ago, public institutions viewed fundraising as a margin of excellence," said David Bass, senior director of research at the Council for the Advancement and Support of the United States. ;education. "Now, private support has become essential for many of these institutions."
The Michigan Development Office, for example, now employs 550 people and coordinates 1,600 volunteers. The school spent half a million dollars to organize parties to bring the alumni together.
Fundraising was introduced into the economic model of most private colleges and universities more than a century ago, but until about 1980, it was generally accepted that the costs of public institutions would be in large part at the expense of taxpayers, the rest being taken back in tuition fees and research funds. .
But a cycle of budget cuts has eroded this model. Lawmakers have asked schools to catch up by increasing tuition fees. When the economy resumed, the state generally did not invest so much in schools. As tuition fees increased, so did budgets.
For the first time this year, in more than half of the United States, students pay more for tuition in public colleges or universities than the government does. Average tuition fees at a four-year college or public university amounted to $ 6,572 in 2017, compared to $ 4,784 in 2008, adjusted for inflation in 2017.
The most cautious public schools began building development offices from about 40 years old, when they saw these trends take shape. The beginnings of these early efforts are now bearing fruit, as the stock market is breaking records and baby boomers are starting what is estimated to be a $ 30 billion intergenerational wealth transfer.
A higher percentage of money comes from less wealthy and richer people. In 2015, the top 1% of donors donated 79% of total campaign funds, compared with 64% in 2006, according to CASE. Over the same period, the amount provided by the top 10% of donors increased from 87% to 92%. In Michigan, the percentage of donations over $ 5 million increased from 34% to 34% of the campaign, which raised $ 1.5 billion in 1997.
This concentration of wealth among donors has repercussions on the beneficiaries. Flagship universities with a long history of fundraising are experiencing a period of prosperity. Kevin McClure, an assistant professor of higher learning at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, said Kevin McClure.
"Public research universities are launching multi-billion dollar campaigns and, in the same state, small schools that have never run a fundraising campaign," said Dr. McClure. "This is one of the mechanisms by which we witness the financial stratification and separation of institutions in public higher education."
The University of Michigan was one of the pioneers among the public schools that embarked on fundraising, said Jerry May, vice president of school development. The Detroit auto industry's boom and bust cycles quickly persuaded presidents to strengthen their fundraising capacity so they would not be subject to volatile state budgets.
The campaign began in 2011 and includes at least four donations of $ 100 million or more, said May. Of this total, $ 1.1 billion is allocated to scholarships. Of this total, $ 800 million came from the New York Three States Region.
"New Yorkers are very generous," said May. "They have been sending their children to school here for years."
Write to Douglas Belkin at [email protected]
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