Posted on December 30, 2005

print  e-mail

Funding for Education Remains Top Priority

As has been the case for a number of years, funding for education again was a top priority of foundations and individual philanthropists in 2005. In fact, as a percentage of foundation grant dollars, funding for education ranked ahead of all other areas of interest in 2005 and was of particular interest to community and corporate foundations.

What those dollars are accomplishing, however, is some- thing of an open question. According to the most recent edition of the College Board's National Assessment of Educational Progress, elementary school students — notably African Americans — have registered solid gains in both reading and math in the first few years of the new century, while middle school students have made less progress and older teenagers hardly any at all.

That middle and high school test scores have lagged at the elementary-school level has not gone unnoticed by organized philanthropy, which has been pouring resources into school reform for the past few years and increased its funding of such efforts in 2005. Leading the charge has been the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has invested $1.2 billion in school reform efforts since 2000 and, in 2005, partnered with the Los Angeles-based Broad Foundation, another major funder of education reform, to fund SchoolMatters, a Web site that will provide in-depth information and analysis about public schools and state education systems

On the higher education front, 2005 saw the moderating of tuition increases at public and private universities after two years of explosive growth. According to the annual survey by the College Board, the fastest-growing costs on campus were employee health benefits, professional salaries, and utilities. In other news, the Wall Street Journal reported that the cost of creating endowed scholarship funds at some universities soared in 2005 — Johns Hopkins University, for example, raised the cost of an endowed scholarship from $20,000 to $100,000 — and cited school officials who blamed the trend on the ever-rising demand for financial aid and fierce competition for top students among private schools offering "need-blind" admissions.

For many, however, higher education continues to be one of the best bargains around, and individual philanthropists, many of them from modest backgrounds, once again showered America's colleges and universities with gifts. Among the biggest were the $100 million given to Rockefeller University by its honorary chairman, David Rockefeller; and the $100 million given to the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard by Eli and Edythe Broad. Other sizable gifts included the $105 million given to New York University's School of Medicine by Jan T. Vilcek, a research scientist and professor at the school; and $100 million to Arizona State University by Ira A. and Mary Lou Fulton. Instead of funding general budget relief or construction, the Fultons' gift will support educational initiatives. "A lot of people think the responsibility for funding higher education belongs only to the state and the students," said Ira Fulton, founder of Tempe-based Fulton Homes. "They don't realize that state taxes pay for less than a third of the cost, and tuition paid by students covers another third…I'd like to see that change."

Arizona State University to Receive $100 Million for Education (12/29/05)

Broad Foundation Awards $100 Million to Broad Institute of MIT, Harvard (12/01/05)

Tuition Increases Slow, But Still Outpace Inflation, Report Finds (10/21/05)

Education Giving Shifts Focus to K-12 (8/23/05)

Scientist Makes $105 Million Donation to NYU Medical School (8/15/05)

Solid Gains Reported in Elementary School Reading and Math Achievement, Study Finds (7/18/05)

David Rockefeller Pledges $100 Million to Rockefeller University (6/10/05)

Oxford University Receives $100 Million Gift From Computing Pioneer (6/09/05)

Education Fastest-Growing Nonprofit Sector (5/18/05)

Gates, Broad Foundations Fund $45 Million Education Web Site (3/31/05)