<p>ilovebagels,
The per capita measurement above is based on the current student body which I readily concede is a flawed way to look at this. But the thinking was that this group would be the ones to most immediately benefit from larger gifts as the college can translate these gifts into increased services, increased financial aid, improved facilities, etc. </p>
<p>Alumni giving is a very difficult thing to measure and IMO is not a very accurate measurement of the strength of student/graduate sentiment towards an individual institution. Furthermore, I strongly believe that the state universities are undermined by its inclusion in any ranking system, including USNWR.</p>