Prestige is a "mixed blessing," says Gene R. Kersey, director of development at Oregon State University.

"If you're a Harvard, it's great. If you're not a Harvard, it makes it pretty competitive. Prestige does play a role, rightly sometimes, and maybe not so rightly sometimes," he says.

Nor is Harvard ashamed of its edge.

"There's an assumed level of quality with Harvard that's extremely important when we're talking to corporations and foundations," Johnson says.

"No one uses its reputation more than Harvard," says Brad B. Barber, director of institutional administration for the University of California system. "Harvard knows how to use its reputation very effectively, better than anyone else."

Combined with supreme name recognition, Harvard's endowment is a mark of stability which gives foundations and corporations confidence in the University's potential to succeed.

Connections also play a role, at least in the all-important first stage of getting the institutional foot in the door.

Johnson describes a recent trip to a midwestern company, the CEO of which is a Harvard alum. He credits that relationship in part with the success of the meeting.

"The more friends you have, the better--but when you're talking with companies and foundations, having a friend will help you get in the door, but it won't sustain the relationship if you're not producing," says Glenn B. Freedman, director of the Institute for the Future of Higher Education.

The process can be frustrating to lesser-known schools.

"If you just do your homework, sometimes the right letter or phone call can get you in the door," says Richard K. Francois, assistant vice president for university relations at Seattle University. "[But] you're swimming against the tide. You realize that your reputation isn't as well-known as others."

These advantages of reputation create an uneven playing field when less-established schools compete with the nation's marquee institutions. Though few have argued that this is unfair in a moral sense, some institutions feel sidelined.

"If I had to go head to head with Stanford, that would be really tough," says Eddie Norton, director of foundational relations at Santa Clara University.

Many worry that the nature of competition in this arena will have national repercussions.

"What you want to avoid is the usual suspects program," says L. Steven Zwerling, a senior director at the Ford Foundation, the largest foundation for support of higher education in the nation.