Results of a national study of corporate giving to higher education give reason for optimism in future years. Highlights include: in national estimates, dollar amounts were at a new high at $715 million, a 17.2 percent increase over 1977; the biggest three-year gain was seen since 1952-55; however, no gain was seen in the percentage of pretax net income given to education, and there was little change in education's share of total corporate contributions. The survey results themselves show that: funding of company foundations participating in the survey amounted to $419 million, an increase of 46.9 percent over 1977, with foundation grants totaling $278 million, a 15.2 percent increase; capital support grants as a share of corporate support dropped from 15.1 to 13.7 percent in the year, but unrestricted operating grants as a share of corporate support rose from 16.9 to 18.5 percent in that period. Matching gift programs accounted for 10.7 percent of the 1978 total, while departmental and research support were 17.7 percent and student support rose in dollar amount but fell in percentage of total contributions. Notes on the Internal Revenue Service's tabulation of total corporate contributions and on report definitions and biases are appended. (MSE)