Yale raised $60 million in private donations during the month of December, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported Thursday in its “Updates on Billion-Dollar Campaigns at 33 Universities.” In total, the University has raised $2.886 billion since September 2006 as part of its efforts to reach its $3.5 billion donation target set for 2011.

The findings came from the annual Voluntary Support of Education survey conducted by the Council for Aid to Education. According to the survey, colleges experienced an 11.9 percent drop in private donations in the last fiscal year, but the director of the survey said he expects to soon see donation levels recover.

The University of Pennsylvania topped the list of universities receiving the highest donations, raising a total of $72.4 million in the past month. Among the Ivy League colleges, Brown and Dartmouth raised $30.3 million and $34 million respectively in the past month. Cornell and Princeton saw smaller gains, collecting $15.7 million and $18 million each.