Written by Miles Brown, Staff Writer

The VSU community is investing, igniting and inspiring the future of Valdosta State.

To date, the campaign has raised 46 million dollars. This goal was achieved in a short year and a half, which beat out the predicated five year goal.

“Invest. Ignite. Inspire” is a comprehensive capital campaign strategy for Valdosta State University with a working goal of raising $53,250,000.

The plan is to use the campaign to fund five different project areas. The five areas include student enrichment, faculty enhancement, program opportunities, athletic excellence and facility upgrades. Donors choose different project areas to donate to base on their interests.

“Our campaign is a five year campaign, started in July 2014 and will end in July 2019, ” John Crawford, vice president of university advancement, said. “We originally established a working goal of $43,250,000 but in December of 2014 the board of trustees voted to increase that goal by $10 million.

Many donors are VSU college graduates, as well as many people in the community who want to help VSU . The largest amount donated as a gift to the university was $17 million. This donation became one of the major reasons why the campaign goal was increased.

87% of the money total is already raised.

“We have received $21.8 million in scholarship,” Crawford said. “[This] allows the university to leverage private scholarship dollars for more tuition dollars, [and] this can dramatically impact VSU. This allows for more enrollment and retention rates, a key component in the campaign”.

The athletic departments   and art  departments could see the biggest impact because most   are student funded. Faculty enhancements could take place with the continued success of the campaign, coming through endowment funds to support faculty with salary, research and scholarly work.