We recently wrote about Michigan State University spending lavishly while its students face rising costs.

It looks like another of the state’s institutions of higher learning is following suit, as it starts its new fundraising campaign with a high-priced party.

Administrators at the University of Michigan, taking to heart the old saying “one must spend money to make money,” chose to throw a lavish, $750,000 kickoff party for the school’s latest fundraising campaign.

U-M’s ‘Victors for Michigan’ capital campaign aims to raise $4 billion to fund various university projects, including infrastructure development, research grants and scholarships. If successful, Victors for Michigan will be the highest-grossing fundraising drive by a public university in history.

But first, U-M had to spend between $750,000 and $800,000 on a series of parties for the campaign’s rollout.

A university spokesperson justified the expense as necessary to get the word out to potential donors.

“To achieve our audacious goal of raising $4 billion, we need gifts from hundreds of thousands of donors,” said Judith Malcolm, a U-M spokesperson, in a statement to The Michigan Daily. “That means we need hundreds of thousands of people aware of and engaged in the campaign.”

Malcolm explained that the capital campaign is not a “telethon.” Rather, the idea is to rake in donations over the long haul.

“A campaign kickoff is not designed or intended to raise money at that precise moment in time,” she said. “The kickoff event did, however, provide a focus and urgency for fundraising.”

The urgency was of course keenly felt at a media event, community festival, dinner for donors and subsequent party.

…Whether or not the university succeeds in its goal of completing the most lucrative fundraising drive in the history of public education, tuition will likely continue to increase for debt-ridden students — just as it has every year for the last 30.