If I had a billion dollars ...

IN RECENT MONTHS A RASH OF INSTITUTIONS ANNOUNCED capital campaigns with multibillion dollar goals. Which makes one wonder, is there that much money in the world? John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, says there is. According to a study by Boston College professor Paul G. Schervish, during the first half of this century baby boomers will probably inherit between $41 trillion and $136 trillion. Since 1980 annual giving to higher education has doubled every year. Lippincott predicts that if that trend continues, "we could see [total giving] close to $100 billion by 2020." And that won't be because of the dozen multibillion-dollar campaigns alone; thousands of smaller campaigns are also being conducted, but overlooked by the media. Lippincott says most IHEs with an established fundraising team are either currently conducting a campaign, finishing one up, or planning a new one.

What happens to all that money? Cornell University plans to use its $4 billion for student aid, recruiting and retaining faculty, and improving infrastructure. Columbia, Stanford and the University of Virginia have similar goals, with K-12 education thrown in for good measure, while Yale is also going to spend some on the arts.

CASE suggests campaigns not exceed seven years, but that institutions not make it too short either; to raise $1 billion in one year would take bringing in $2,739,726.03 per day. Let's put these staggering numbers into perspective. Aside from state-of-the-art research labs, what will those eye-popping amounts get you?

* With $1 billion you could buy 3.3 fast food hamburgers for every person in the country, based on a U.S. population of 300,177,750.

* With $1 billion you could buy four Boeing 777-300ER airplanes, or 5,041 of the 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo SEs.

* With $1 billion you could buy 5,000 tickets to become an astronaut on Virgin Galactic at $200,000 each.

* With $1 billion you could buy 12,820 Lexus LS 07 cars, which park themselves.

Looking at it another way, it cost $1.7 billion to build the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The Hubble Space Telescope initially cost $1.5 billion to build and launch. A $900 million stack of $1 bills would be 20 feet tall, 50 feet long, and 31.25 feet wide, or about half as long as a conventional tennis court (www.crunchweb.net/87billion).--A.M.