The University of Washington’s Creating Futures campaign, an eight-year fundraising drive that started in 2000, met its goal of raising $2.5 billion five months early.

Part of the money raised will ensure that the scholarship program “Husky Promise” will continue. Husky Promise guarantees that students who are Washington state residents, and whose family incomes are at or below 65 percent of the state median income, will have their tuitions fully covered.

At the current rate for in-state students, these funds could pay for four years of tuition for almost 100,000 students. The UW has about 40,000 undergraduate students enrolled.

The campaign had already raised its benchmark goal another half billion dollars, after meeting its initial goal of $2 billion a year ago.

“It’s a huge compliment to the University and its faculty and students that the donors believe strongly in them and the University,” said Greg Sheridan, associate vice president of constituency programs for the UW Foundation.

The $585 million donated will specifically go toward student and faculty support.

“The part we feel best about is the number of scholarships and fellowships going directly to the people,” Sheridan said.

Since the campaign’s launch in 2000, endowments for student support, like scholarships and fellowships, have almost doubled, from 818 to 1,571.

The money has gone toward building William H. Gates Hall, the Computer Science and Engineering building, the Bioengineering and Genome Sciences building and will fund a new business school building.

The new addition to the business school will be named PACCAR Hall, in recognition of a $16 million contribution from PACCAR, a manufacturer of commercial trucks.

The UW is among many public universities across the nation involved in fundraising efforts to compete with wealthier private institutions.

The University of Oregon has raised $754 million to date in their fundraising efforts. “Making History,” the University of Pennsylvania’s fundraising campaign, passed the halfway mark in its $3.5 billion goal by raising $1.8 million so far.

Campaign Chairman William H. Gates wrote in a statement that he hopes the campaign will continue to be successful.

“We still have five months remaining, so we’ll continue to work hard to maintain momentum in order to keep a great enterprise like the University of Washington on a continued course of excellence.”

[Reach reporter William Kim at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]