Boosted by a healthy year-end finish in 2007, private giving to colleges and universities remained strong in fiscal 2008, according to a report to be released this morning by the Council for Aid to Education. The past few months have battered hopes that this trend will continue, at least in the next couple of years.
Colleges brought in an estimated $31.6-billion last year, the highest total ever reported in the council’s annual “Voluntary Support of Education” survey, which included 1,052 institutions. That represented a 6.2-percent increase over the previous year, and the fifth straight year of increases.