Growing numbers of colleges and universities, as well as independent schools, are targeting parents, grandparents, and other nonalumni friends for gifts to meet institutional needs and, at many public institutions, replace appropriations lost to Draconian state cuts. Such efforts have taken root despite parents shouldering ever-climbing college costs. Institutions are cultivating relationships with prospective nonalumni donors by establishing parent councils, weaving fundraising pitches into existing parent programs, and expanding engagement opportunities for business leaders, community members, and other friends of the institution on and off campus. Some 82 percent of parent programs now actively fundraise compared with barely 44 percent in 2003, according to a University of Minnesota survey. More than 500 U.S. colleges and universities have parent programs, many of them one-stop shops for matters ranging from resolving roommate problems to advising parents how to handle their child's transition into adulthood.