(FORTUNE Magazine) – If it is truly more blessed to give than to receive, John Kluge, 78, billionaire chairman of Metromedia, must be feeling positively saintly. He recently bestowed $60 million on Columbia University, his alma mater (major: economics, class of '37), to be used for scholarships for minorities. But as the table shows, Kluge, who gave Columbia two previous gifts of $25 million each, is not the only person in the stratospheric-largess league. Says Peter Buchanan, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education: ''No question about it, large gifts from individuals to universities are on the rise.'' He counts five gifts of $50 million or more from 1986 through 1989, for a total of $276 million. Between 1990 and the present there have been seven like donations, totaling $413.4 million. -- J.M.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: SOURCE: THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION CAPTION: TOP COLLEGE CONTRIBUTORS IN THE 1990s