Columbia Univ. raises $6.1B in capital campaign

NEW YORK (AP) - Columbia University has raised a whopping $6.1 billion in its most recent capital campaign.

The Ivy League school in New York City started the fundraising in 2006 and finished at the end of last year.

Columbia President Lee Bollinger said in an email to alumni Thursday that more than $1 billion of the new funds will go toward student financial aid, and another $1 billion for dozens of new campus projects, including the school’s expansion into its West Harlem neighborhood.

Columbia is not the only American university with lofty fundraising goals. Harvard wants to raise $6.5 billion by 2018.

Bollinger says the money for Columbia came from donors in about 140 countries.