What is a billion dollars these days? Merely one-half of 1% of the annual federal deficit. But such a sum would seem beyond the grandest aspirations of higher education. Not so. Stanford University is announcing this week that it will seek $1.1 billion in a five-year fund-raising drive. Aimed at upgrading science research facilities, helping the growing number of students who need financial aid and increasing the endowment from $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion, the campaign is by far the most ambitious in the history of private education. Stanford's closest rival, Columbia University, is in the fifth and final year of...
To continue reading: or Log-In