March 20, 2003 | Read Time: 2 minutes
A record drop in alumni giving last year caused private donations to colleges and universities to
decline for the first time in 15 years, according to figures released last week by the Council for Aid to Education.
Donations declined by 2.5 percent, after adjusting for inflation, at the 965 institutions surveyed, to $23.9-billion for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, according to the council, a New York research group that is a subsidiary of the RAND Corporation.
Gifts to private secondary schools last year declined 14.3 percent after adjusting for inflation of 1.3 percent, to $939-million, according to a separate survey by the council.
At colleges, alumni support last year declined almost $1-billion, or 13.6 percent, the largest decrease since 1952, the council said. A downturn in the economy and a weak stock market contributed to the fall, according to a report on the survey. Alumni accounted for $5.9-billion, or 24.7 percent, of private donations to colleges and universities last year.
Contributions from foundations rose 5 percent last year, to $6.3-billion, meaning that for the first time in 25 years, foundations gave more to higher education than alumni did.
During economic downturns, foundation giving tends to taper off more slowly than other types of support because grant commitments often are made for multiple years and are based on asset values from years when foundations had higher endowments, according to the survey’s director, Ann E. Kaplan.
Private support for capital projects declined for both higher education and secondary schools, according to the report.
At colleges, alumni gave 4.2 percent less money in 2002 toward capital projects, such as new buildings or endowments.
The majority of private donations to secondary schools are dedicated to capital purposes, Ms. Kaplan says. But last year, 194 surveyed private secondary schools were hit hard by an 11.9-percent decrease in the average gift — the largest decline in more than 30 years.
$585-Million
The University of Southern California, which raised $585-million in fiscal 2002, collected more than any other institution, and more than twice what it raised in fiscal 2001. It landed two foundation grants of $100-million during its 2002 campaign. Harvard University finished No. 2 among colleges and universities, with $477.6-million in contributions. Stanford University was a close third, at $454.8-million.
A summary of the survey data is available on the council’s Web site, http://www.cae.org. A full report based on the data will be available in May. Copies will cost $65 for institutions that participated in the survey and $100 for others, and will be available on the group’s Web site or by contacting the Council for Aid to Education, 215 Lexington Avenue, 21st Floor, New York, N.Y. 10016; (212) 661-5800; vse@cae.org.
