PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Brown University will kick off its largest capital campaign ever on Saturday, aiming to raise more than $1.3 billion for its endowment and to help it compete with other top schools.

Brown in 2002 adopted its Plan for Academic Enrichment, which includes adding faculty, buildings and multidisciplinary programs, and improving financial aid and faculty pay. Much of the work is already in progress, adding $55 million to the university’s operating budget this year and hundreds of millions of dollars to the capital projects budget.

Brown President Ruth Simmons said the money is well-spent.

“There’s nothing more important than preparing these students well for the future they will have,” she said. “What we invest in our children will come back to us in exceedingly rich ways.”

Forty-two universities have undertaken capital campaigns of $1 billion or more, said John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. They include public institutions such as Michigan State University and Purdue University, as well as private universities such as Harvard and Columbia.

“Probably the defining characteristic is that these are all very well-established institutions that do enjoy a high reputation, a high academic reputation,” Lippincott said.