new cohort of fifty rising eighth-grade students from each of the university's host cities of Newark, Camden, New Brunswick, and Piscataway begins a five-year process of regular visits to campus, college preparation activities, and mentoring, with the guarantee of free tuition at Rutgers for all those who earn admission after high school. Of the first cohort of 183 students in the program, 163 enrolled in college in fall 2013, including 98 at Rutgers. During McCormick's presidency, the university's annual budget grew from $1.3 billion to $2.1 billion despite declining levels of state funding. He made new investments in Rutgers’ campuses, responding to student demand for additional housing, classroom repairs, and renovated or expanded student-life facilities. The Rutgers School of Law–Camden opened a new facility in 2008, and the Rutgers Business School—Newark and New Brunswick moved into a new home at One Washington Park in Newark in 2009. In 2007 McCormick announced plans for redevelopment of the Livingston Campus in Piscataway, New Jersey, focused on professional education; a 2008 anonymous gift of $13 million, the second largest private gift in Rutgers’ history, has been earmarked for a new business school facility on that campus. In 2006 he held an international design competition to “green” the College Avenue Campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Some detractors said the designs, including those of the winning firm, were too modern for the historic campus, but others praised the proposed use of open space and planned transportation improvements. McCormick suspended the greening project in 2009, citing budgetary problems: "All of the other projects that we bring to you for your approval — the dining hall on [Livingston] campus, the proteomics building and the Nelson [Biology Laboratories C-wing] all come with revenue streams…. There's no revenue stream for the greening of College Avenue unless you charge students for walking past bushes and trees…. I regret this, but we have no other choice," McCormick said. In 2012 he announced a multifaceted project that, contingent on the success of its proposed funding plan, would add an honors college, an academic classroom building, a residence hall, and a dining hall to the College Avenue Campus. In 2010, McCormick launched a $1 billion university fundraising campaign titled Our Rutgers, Our Future: A Campaign for Excellence. Two-thirds of the campaign goal was raised during McCormick's tenure, the largest donation being a $27 million gift for endowed professorships. On May 31, 2011,