Universities that are part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education raised a record $52 million in donations during the last fiscal year. However, college officials say, that number is bound to drop because of the beleaguered economy.

PASSHE spokesman Kenn Marshall recently said that $18.3 million, or 35 percent, was raised through alumni donations in the 2007-08 fiscal year.

Individual donors contributed about $9.2 million to PASSHE universities in 2007-08, while corporations contributed $8.8 million.

Foundations made donations totaling $6.2 million, and other organizations combined generated about $9 million.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester.

In the 2006-07 school year, about $42 million was raised by the 14 state-owned universities.

Marshall said that the state system is pleased with the universities' fundraising efforts.

"It's very encouraging," Marshall said. "We continue to get strong support from alumni."

However, because the fiscal year ended June 30, the major economic downturn that occurred last fall is not reflected in the $52 million raised by colleges.

Marshall said PASSHE won't know until November how much money schools were able to raise in the last quarter of the current fiscal year.

But Marshall said he believes schools will see a drop in donations.

"Realistically we would like to match the $52 million, but that's probably not going to happen because of the collapse of the economy," Marshall said. "But that doesn't mean schools are going to throw their hands up — they are going to work very hard to secure donations."

Jerry Eckert, Millersville University's vice president of advancement, said that the college raised a total of $8.6 million in the 2007-08 school year, which includes grants, compared to $8.1 million in the 2006-07 fiscal year.

"We had a very good year," Eckert said.

In private donations, the university received $4.2 million, of which $1.7 million was from alumni. In comparison, MU received $900,000 in the 2006-07 school year.

Eckert said its priority is to keep fundraising efforts strong. However, he said ensuring that donations — both large and small — keep coming in will be more difficult because of the economy.

"We're not going to be taken care of by the state," Eckert said. "We need to be more entrepreneurial. We need to tell our story to (donors) as an investment, not a donation."

Eckert said MU has more than 60 off-campus fundraising events annually.

The majority of gifts received by the PASSHE universities were designated for specific uses, including student scholarships and to help fund campus construction and renovation projects.

About one-fourth were designated to help universities build their endowments, which have grown by nearly $100 million in the past eight years.

While fundraising has been strong, Eckert said the school's $20 million endowment has dropped by 25 percent in the last five months.

While this is a loss, he said, the average loss of endowments at colleges across the country has been about 35 percent.

Eckert said 94 percent of MU's endowment is used to award student scholarships and financial aid.

He said the Millersville University Foundation, a volunteer board of business leaders in the community, will make a decision next month as to how much student aid and scholarship money to cut in the 2009-10 school year.

"Students already know that they can't expect the same amount as last year," Eckert said.

Eckert said he also expects that there will be a drop in donations in the last quarter of the current fiscal year.

"It's a wait-and-see situation, which means a slowdown," he said.

While he expects fewer capital donations, Eckert said MU's annual fund, which generates about $1,000,000 every year, will remain steady.

The annual fund consists of donations that are typically $5,000 or less. Money from the fund is used for school programs.

Although the economy may stay sour for several months, Eckert said MU will do its best to retain and attract new donors.

"It's our obligation," he said. "We're in this for the long haul."

E-mail: mpennino@lnpnews.com