Public U.S. colleges are growing more ambitious in the philanthropy race.

A $4 billion fundraising campaign unveiled last week at Texas A&M University ranks as one of the largest ever, as top public schools try to offset declining state and federal funding and stay competitive with private counterparts with longer track records of tapping donations.

Texas A&M trails only the University of California Los Angeles, which is seeking $4.2 billion, and matches a drive at the University of Michigan, according to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, a membership organization in Washington.

“These flagship schools have been forced to rely on private philanthropy to try to keep up,” said Rob Reich, co-director of Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. “Texas A&M and others should keep in mind that a thriving system depends on public dollars.”


Mega Gifts


The pace of giving has remained strong this year, led by mega gifts from wealthy donors such as hedge fund manager John Paulson, who gave $400 million to Harvard University, and Stephen Schwarzman, who gave $150 million to Yale University. Donations to higher education came in at a record $37.5 billion in the year ended June 2014, up 11 percent from the year prior, according to a report in January from the Council for Aid to Education, a New York-based group.

Philanthropy has been a bright spot in higher education as schools have faced federal research funding cuts and pressure to offer more financial aid to offset rising tuition. At the same time, university endowments, with the values of many surpassing pre-recession levels, have once again caught the eye of Congress, which may introduce a bill on the funds’ spending.

Among private schools, Harvard set a new benchmark unveiling a $6.5 billion campaign last year and is well ahead of schedule with $6.1 billion in pledges through last month. Cornell University extended an effort to raise $5.75 billion this year even though it has surpassed $6 billion of pledges.


Frequent Campaigns


UCLA is about halfway to its goal while Michigan has raised about $3 billion, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education said. Still, there could be a backlash as campaigns keep getting bigger, said Timothy Seiler, a fellow at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. State schools must also be careful not give lawmakers an excuse to further cut appropriations for higher education as private donations grow.

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