According to the Council for Aid to Education, The University of Minnesota ranked 17th in the nation in receiving charitable contributions for 2008, bringing in $307.61 million. Other Big Ten Schools in the top 20 included the University of Wisconsin (eighth), Indiana University (11th) and the University of Michigan (15th). The report states that overall donations to colleges and universities in the nation went up 6.2 percent in 2008. Despite the reported increase in 2008, there is speculation that giving could drop in the fiscal year 2009 report as well as 2010 because past data has shown a general decline in contributions during economic recessions. Most of the reporting is done at the end of each calendar year, and it was reported that giving âÄúhit a wallâÄù in January of 2009 and is expected to continue to struggle.