Two months after the Campaign for the Library raised more than $10 million, the University is considering launching its next major campaign to increase academic scholarship funds.

University President Joab Thomas hinted at the campaign during the January University Board of Trustees meeting but did not give any details as to what the fund raising would be for.

Although the campaign's details, such as its goal and when it will begin, remain undecided, Thomas said academics will be a high priority.

"I have requested that the next major campaign focus heavily on programs -- scholarships, academic programs," he said.

Bronwen Wagner, director for University scholarships and special programs, said the University wants to attract more donors to form more scholarships.

Scholarship money is primarily donor sponsored. The donors specify where they want the money to go -- academic, athletic or artistic areas, Wagner said.

"We would like to see our student-endowment monies grow," she said.

About 70 to 80 percent of University students receive financial aid of some sort, Wagner said.

But that figure includes loans, and the recent removal of the caps on how much students can borrow could plunge students into heavy debts.

"They can borrow great sums of money and be unable to repay loans they have borrowed," she said.

John Cahir, vice provost and dean of under graduate education, said more students are taking out loans than before.

"It's almost scandalous, that over the last 10 to 15 years the mix shifted sharply in the direction of loans," he said. "I personally would like to see that trend reversed and considerably more support in the forms of grants and scholarships in the need-based program."

The University offers academic excellence scholarships, need-based scholarships and scholarships from individual colleges, but Cahir said it is still not meeting the demand.

A fund-raising campaign for a $20 million endowment would help provide more scholarships for minority students, part-time or nontraditional students who might not qualify for scholarships otherwise, Cahir said.

"Obviously I, and I think we, would like very, very much to increase not just moderately, but dramatically, the size of our academic scholarships," he said.