The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), with $48 million left to raise, is the only school lagging behind. But Harvard's administrators are confident that FAS will meet its goals.

"Indeed, I trust we'll go over the top!" Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles wrote in an e-mail message.

Harvard has raised $1.981 billion since the beginning of the campaign in May 1994. The libraries and endowed professorships, always sticking points for campaigns, remain short of their goals. The library system needs another $30 million for Widener renovations. Only 16 of the 40 planned professorships have been funded.

Since the beginning of his presidency, Neil L. Rudenstine has placed fundraising at the top of his agenda, and now, with six months left, he is stepping up the number of meetings with large donors and phone calls to generous alumni.

Over the last several months officials have tried to change their strategy, educating donors about the benefits of less glamorous gifts like those to the library.

Harvard will most likely institute the "challenge method" to solicit new gifts. Donors have their gifts matched from a fund made up of money earmarked for that purpose.

"A lot of time is being spent figuring out how to readjust our efforts in funding," says William H. Boardman, associate vice president for capital giving.

Coming From Behind

The story of last year was Harvard's reluctance to join the pack in raising financial aid benefits. Starting with Princeton University, quickly followed by Stanford and Yale universities, school after school announced that they would overhaul their financial aid policies, increasing aid to middle class families.

While Harvard spent more than a million dollars trying to keep "within shouting distance" of its "peer institutions" by increasing aid packages on a case-by-case basis, it found itself outbid by much of the Ivy League.

Sources told The Crimson that Rudenstine had long wanted to make a financial aid policy change, but Knowles balked at the prospect of spending more money.

In the fall of this year, Harvard announced its own financial aid initiative, a plan with a purpose different than other schools' initiatives.

The University added some $10 million to its annual financial aid spending, giving $2,000 additional dollars to every student receiving aid.

The aim, administrators said, was to free up more of students' time, relieving them of the burden of work requirements or loans. Harvard's plan dwarfed some other schools--in both size and mission. It was some three times larger than Yale's plan, for example.

Building Frenzy