why UCLA keeps dropping in USNews rankings

Corbett
Sat, 21 Aug 2010 00:57:41 +0000

USC is 15th in % of alumni giving; UCLA is 117th. But UCLA is in top10 every year in total private donation $s.

Let’s check that stat. The most recent [url=http://www.infoplease.com/edu/colleges/top-fundraising-colleges-2007.html#axzz0xDBnD241]numbers[/url] I could find, for 2007, do indeed put UCLA in tenth place nationwide for total fundraising dollars, at $365M.

However, there is one other point worth mentioning: the same stats put USC in third place nationally, behind only Stanford and Harvard, at $470M.

The most recent endowment numbers for most schools, including USC and UCLA, were calculated for June 30, 2009. For [url=http://www.usc.edu/about/ataglance/]USC[/url], the endowment figure at that time was $2.7B. For [url=https://www.uclafoundation.org/finances.aspx]UCLA[/url], the corresponding number was less than half that, at $1.2B.

These financial differences don’t necessarily make USC a better school. However, they do make USC a wealthier school, and realistically, this seems like a plus in the current economic climate.