PITTSBURGH
The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are among 25 U.S. colleges and universities in the midst of campaigns to raise $1 billion or more.
Experts say that’s not just good news for the schools, but for the economy of Pittsburgh and the surrounding region.
“Even if you use a fairly conservative multiplier effect of three or four times, assuming a lot of this is new dollars coming into Pittsburgh, it’s a significant impact on a community and a tremendous source of price to a community,” said John Lippencott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. The group represents fundraisers at 3,200 colleges and universities.
Pitt officials have raised $862 million dollars toward their goal.
Although Carnegie Mellon officials don’t plan to announce their fundraising target until mid-2008, faculty officials say administrators have put the goal at about $1 billion. The school has raised about $244 million so far.
Nationwide, the University of Virginia is about 25 percent of the way into a campaign to raise $3 million, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. New York University, Michigan, UCLA and Johns Hopkins are among other U.S. universities involved in multibillion-dollar campaigns.