Michigan Difference takes in $3.2 billion for U-M

The Michigan Difference is making quite...er... the difference for the University of Michigan. The endowment fund has so far raised a little more than $3.2 billion.

That's more than the university has ever raised before, far surpassing its original goal of $2.5 billion. It's also believed to be most money ever raised by a public university. That puts it on par with Ivy League endowments, which are worth several billion each.

U-M started the campaign in 2004 and closed it at the end of last year. About 365,000 people donated to the endowment. That money will go toward student financial aid, new student programs, hire and retain faculty, research and constructing new buildings.

The endowment is putting $545 million toward student financial aid, such as 1,969 new endowed scholarships valued at $260 million. It also upped the funding of endowed professorships by 69 percent, and built 22 new structures, including the Ross School of Business, Ford School's Weill Hall and Mott Children's Hospital.

Source: University of Michigan
Writer: Jon Zemke