Pac-12 routs SEC in the money game
Western schools come out on the top for fundraising
With national titles in seven of the past eight years, the Southeastern Conference sits atop the college-football pile, with the Pac-12 Conference widely regarded as next best. But when it comes to fundraising, the Western schools easily beat their rivals. Last year was a strong fundraising year in general for U.S. colleges and universities, according to an annual study by the Council for Aid to Education. But when it boils down to the SEC against the Pac-12, it’s no contest. bama, which has won three in the past five years, raised $81 million in 2013. Auburn University, which also won a recent championship and was in this year’s title game, was lower at $68 million. Texas A&M raised the most of any SEC school at $255 million, followed by the University of Florida ($211 million) and Vanderbilt ($145 million). Mississippi State finished last with $66 million, just behind Auburn. Led by Stanford, which raised a national-best $932 million in 2013, the 12 member universities of the Pac-12 Conference brought in $3.6 billion. The conference’s other private school, the University of Southern California, attracted $675 million. UCLA raised the most among public Pac-12 schools with $420 million, slightly ahead of its sibling, the University of CaliforniaBerkley, with $341 million. Only two Pac-12 schools failed to reap at least $100 million in donations — Oregon State at $81 million and Washington State at $50 million. In our state, the University of Arizona raised $151 million, ranking eighth among Pac-12 universities and finishing ahead of Arizona State University, which ended up in 10th place with $108 million. The study by the Council for Aid to Education also compiled data on two other Arizona higher-education institutions that aren’t Pac-12 members. Northern Arizona University attracted $11 million and Pima Community College was just shy of $2 million. Overall, 2013 was a solid year for higher-education fundraising, with the nation’s colleges and universities raising a record $33.8 billion, according to the Council for Aid to Education. That was up 9 percent compared to 2012. Giving was helped by rising stock-market values, which made donors wealthier. Also, universities were helped by strong investment returns in their endowment funds. Nationally, Stanford finished first with $932 million in fundraising, followed by Harvard ($792 million), USC ($675 million), Columbia University ($647 million) and Johns Hopkins University ($519 million).