This success with funds for financial aid is not mirrored at the Education School, which has much trouble raising money for the program.
Only 40 percent of Education School students receive financial aid. Admission Office Director Roland Hence points out that the yield at the school is still more than 70 percent in most programs, leading him to conclude that most students are simply shouldering the financial burden themselves.
In addition, Hence says that the school sometimes cannot attract top students because some other schools can offer a full four-year scholarship to their students.
The GSE has currently raised only $18 million of its $40 million goal for endowed monies, which will be split between endowed chairs and financial aid, but has raised more than $23 million of its $20 million goal for current use.
Murphy attributes the school's difficulties in raising money for endowment to the perception of the school as a vehicle for change.
"People are interested in the School of Education not as an end but as a means to the end," Murphy says.
Reardon says it is difficult to raise money for general endowment and financial aid when schools must rely more heavily on non-alumni for funds.
"I think it can be because generally people who are non-alumni come with particular programmatic orientation--they tend to be more directed than the average alumni," Reardon says.
Non-Campaign Money
The funds raised in the University-wide capital campaign are not the only monies raised by the schools in a given year.
In the GSE, for example, approximately $24 million has been raised this year, but the $12 million gift the school received from the Department of Education to establish the National Center for Adult Literacy and Learning does not count toward the campaign because it is a federal grant, according to sponsored research systems administrator Linda Delauri.
Other large grants, such as the $3.8 million Annenberg National Rural Challenge Fund that the GSE received this year, can only count if they fall into one of the three areas for which the school is actively campaigning.
Philosophizing for Funds
There are no Barkers or Ballmers lining up to fund new buildings at Harvard's smaller schools, and the nostalgic fervor that fuels FAS fundraising fails to motivate their alumni.
Even the $17 million gift to the GSD from the Loeb family, some of Harvard's oldest boosters, stemmed more from a love for the University and an interest in design than any direct affiliation with the particular school.
Because most large gifts to Harvard's smallest three schools come from outside donors with specific agendas, the schools have been forced to craft creative strategies to make sure the most important agenda is followed: their own.
In order to make sure that particular projects are funded, such as upkeep of libraries or expansion of financial aid funds, the development offices of these schools cannot rest on the Harvard name alone to draw donors but must constantly promote their educational philosophies.
At a University where the Law School completed its $175 million campaign before the campaign started, the Design, Divinity and Education schools find themselves thus pressed not only to expand but also at times to maintain the status quo.