MN private colleges: Donations are down

In making a pitch for more donations, the Minnesota Private College Council has noted that giving to higher-ed institutions has seen a double-digit decrease over the past decade -- most noticeably since the financial crisis year of 2008:

When the amounts are not adjusted for inflation, the comparison of 2001 to 2010 is relatively flat. When inflation is taken into account, however, contributions dropped 13% at the U of M and 18% at the Council's members.

Nationally giving to colleges and universities plunged by 11.9% in 2009 and only increased by 0.5% in 2010. (That is actually a decline of 0.6%, when adjusted for inflation.)

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