Driven primarily by gifts from individuals, the nation's colleges and universities took in a combined $28 billion in charitable contributions last year, up 9.4 percent over 2005, a new study says.

The survey of more than 1,000 institutions of higher education, representing more than one in three of the four-year programs in the U.S., was conducted by the New York-based Council for Aid to Education.

Stanford led the pack, raising $911.16 million in 2006, followed by Harvard University with $594.94 million and Yale with $433.46 million.

For details, see The Philanthropy Journal's Web site link with this story.