During the past 10 years, the number of high school graduates attending universities has increased significantly while funding for those universities has not, according to an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development study.

“Our institutional costs continue to rise; our state support is not rising with that so we have to identify other means of providing a high quality education to more students,” said Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations. She said it goes back to fundraising.

“If we can find philanthropic support through scholarships, that increases accessibility of higher education for more students, again, with decreasing state government support,” Nilsen said.

OECD’s 2008