CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Harvard University, already sitting on $30 billion in endowments, said Saturday it has embarked on a record fundraising campaign to raise another $6.5 billion.
No other school has ever raised such an ambitious amount, Harvard said in a release posted on its website.
"For us, for this campaign, the real triumph will lie in our ability to rival the efforts and the commitment of those who have bequeathed this extraordinary institution to us, and to strengthen it for those who will follow," Drew Faust, president of the Ivy League school, said at an event signaling the start of the public phase of The Harvard Campaign.
The university said the money would go to boost its Allston campus, expand its School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, modernize housing and boost financial aid for its students, widen its global presence, and provide its arts and sciences faculty with more resources.
Harvard said it already has raised about $2.8 billion in gifts and pledges during the "quite phase" of the campaign, leaving about a $3.7 billion to go.
