UK campaign raises $1 billion

All state schools busy seeking cash

By Nancy C. Rodriguez

nrodriguez@courier-journal.com

The Courier-Journal

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The University of Kentucky has become the first public university in the state to hit the $1 billion mark during a fundraising campaign.

It's a sign, officials say, of the more aggressive fundraising by public universities to meet their growing financial needs.

The money goes into UK's endowment and is used to hire and retain faculty, create and expand scholarships and make facility improvements.

"This is going to help me," said senior Leslie Simpson, a secondary math education major and soon-to-be graduate student. "As the university betters itself, that only makes the value of my degree go up."

UK launched the comprehensive campaign -- its first -- in 1998 with a goal of raising $400 million. UK President Lee Todd increased the goal a couple of years ago. Money raised in a comprehensive campaign can be used for campus-wide projects.

University officials said this week they plan to continue the fundraising campaign through the end of the year.

"We still face significant needs, particularly in the area of undergraduate scholarships and public-service efforts," said D. Michael Richey, associate vice president for development and chief development officer. "There is a dire need for scholarship endowment for undergraduate students."

UK's announcement underscores the rise in fundraising among public universities -- a growing trend as the percentage of state funding has decreased and their needs have increased, said Rae Goldsmith, vice president for communications and marketing for The Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

In UK's case, the mission is to become a Top 20 public research institution, which means chasing universities that have more faculty and annual giving, and larger endowments.

"They have been at it a lot longer. We still have quite a bit of catching up to do," Todd said.

As of 2006, 31 American universities had completed billion-dollar campaigns, and an additional 22 were in the middle of them, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Public institutions made up about half of the completed campaigns, and 59 percent of the ongoing ones.

All of Kentucky's eight public universities and its 16 community colleges are engaged in fundraising.

Eastern Kentucky University launched its first comprehensive campaign in 2005, with a goal of raising $25 million by 2009. It has raised $18 million so far.

Western Kentucky University finished its first campaign in 2003, raising $102 million -- $24 million higher than its original goal.

"The private schools were first in it for obvious reasons. The publics are more late-comers to fundraising," Goldsmith said.

Centre College in Danville has a long track record of large fundraising -- leading the nation in its percentage of annual alumni giving 16 of the last 23 years.

The college recently announced it had received a $22.5 million gift from a group of trustees that will be used to pay for a campus expansion over three years, including expanding and renovating the college's science and dining facilities and student center.

The college will raise an additional $5 million for the project.

Richard Trollinger, Centre's vice president for college relations, said while public universities have become more active fundraisers, they are not real competitors for the private universities.

And in one way, public schools like UK have an advantage because of the state's Bucks for Brains program, which allows private donations to be matched with state money, he said. UK raised more than $200 million toward its goal through the program.

"I'm envious of it. I wish I had that too," Trollinger said.

Todd acknowledged that Bucks for Brains helped the university.

"We would not have hit a billion if it had not been for that program," Todd said. "So we are greatly in debt to our legislators for putting that in place."

He also said he hoped legislators would see that the university is "working hard to try to cover the cost that we said we would cover in our business plan so that we can take less money from the state and still achieve our purpose."

Kentucky public universities do not have the fundraising experience that other public universities have in places like Michigan, Ohio and Virginia, development officials say.

They also have fewer alumni and a smaller state population and number of corporations than those states, Richey said.

"We're not comparing apples to apples in some of these categories," he said.

John Thelin, assistant professor of higher education at UK, said the university's $1 billion net is praiseworthy. But it is a warmup for where the university needs to go if it wants to compete with other top institutions.

"It's a great improvement and not a bad showing," he said. "The problem is how they go up Mount Olympus. . A lot of the institutions they want to be associated with are matching them and sometimes trumping them. It's tougher and tougher to move up."

Reporter Nancy Rodriguez can be reached at (502) 582-7079.