Stanford University announced that they've set a new record for college fundraising this week, becoming the first school to crack the $1 billion mark in a single year according to the Associated Press.

For the eight year in a row, Stanford ranked first in the Council for Aid to Education's annual college fundraising survey.

In the 2012 fiscal year, around 3,500 colleges and universities in the U.S. raised $31 billion, 2.3 percent more than schools raised in 2011. The record was set in 2008 when schools raised $31.6 billion before fundraising drooped during the height of the financial crisis according to the Associated Press.

"We're climbing out of the doldrums," said survey director Ann Kaplan according to the Associated Press. "We haven't returned to the high point of 2008, but we're approaching it. I think you can say that about a lot of industries."

Stanford topped the list after raising $1.035 billion, Harvard University earned $650 million which was good enough for second place, and Yale finished third after raising $544 million.

Southern California placed fourth after earning $492 million and Columbia University finished fifth with $490 million according to the Associated Press.

Overall, the top 10 fundraising colleges earned $5.3 billion, or 17 percent of the $31 billion.

Stanford raised 46 percent more than they did during the 2012 fiscal year than the $709 million they collected and also surpassed its previous record of $911 million set in 2006.

Stanford received donations from over 79,000 donors during the last fiscal year, including more than $100 million as a gift from Silicon Valley investor Robert King and his wife Dorothy to establish the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies.

"We are in awe and remain humbled by this kind of response. It was a remarkable showing of generosity," said Martin Shell, Stanford's vice president for development according to the Associated Press. "Higher education for most people represents hope for a better future, and donors want to invest in that."

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