Want to see your name in lights?

For a cool $5 million, it can adorn North Catholic's new football stadium when the school moves to Cranberry in 2010.

For lesser amounts -- anything from $100,000 to $4 million -- donors can also fund the construction of North Catholic's cafeteria, president's office or music room, with commemorative plaques recognizing their contributions.

These days, nearly every piece of a school is available for "donor recognition" during many capital campaigns. While it hasn't quite gotten down to the level of the "John Q. Alumni Memorial Electric Socket," naming opportunities are getting increasingly specific.

For West Virginia University's new Erickson Alumni Center -- slated to open next fall -- donors can pay $1.5 million to name the building's "Memorial Tower," $500,000 for the courtyard that will serve as the building's main entrance, $75,000 for "Meeting Room D" or $50,000 for the office of the director of development.

"The opportunity for donors to give a gift and have their name or the name of the family member on a part is a real attraction for a lot of people," said Wayne King, president and chief executive officer of the WVU Foundation. "We wanted to make those opportunities known for as many people as possible."

Colleges have long offered opportunities for naming buildings, stadiums and scholarships. But more recent campaigns are moving to high schools and elementary schools -- and come closer to naming desk chairs than endowed chairs.

"The schools are being much more upfront about what each part of the project costs," said the Rev. Kris Stubna, secretary of education for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. "With the challenge of raising sufficient funds, fund-raising and development efforts have really increased in recent years."

At St. Thomas More Elementary School in Bethel Park, donors of all sorts helped finance a new $16 million facility that opened last month. Parishioners giving even a dollar could get their names on a wall made of brick-sized pieces of birch, while donors willing to pony up between $10,000 and several hundred thousand dollars could name classrooms, science labs or stained-glass windows and murals.

At St. Thomas More, naming a room costs about one-fourth the price of construction for that particular space, plus the cost of furnishings. Rooms with more elaborate equipment, such as the science lab or music room, were therefore more expensive than standard classrooms.

The school had about 30 different spaces with naming opportunities and has sold all but three of them, said campaign director John Friedrick, noting that he expects those to be named soon as well.

While a few donors still opted to remain anonymous, most others put either their own name on the rooms or the name of a family member.

"We find in particular that people are interested and excited about remembering someone who has passed away," said Father Stubna. "It's a nice opportunity for people to remember special people but also to provide for the students."

The secret to the success of naming opportunities is simple, said Jim Collogan, project director for the Des Moines, Iowa-based National School Foundation Association. Studies have shown that recognition -- not necessarily altruism -- is a major motivating factor in giving donations, he said.

Mr. Collogan said that he has seen the practice spreading among public high schools as well, although Western Pennsylvania public schools -- most of which don't run traditional capital campaigns -- haven't seen many naming opportunities.

While a few school districts in Massachusetts and Wisconsin have offered the opportunity to buy plaques, local school districts have largely limited naming opportunities to athletic facilities.

In Penn Hills, the Bill Fralic Athletic Center was so named after Mr. Fralic, a Penn Hills High School graduate who played nine seasons in the NFL. He donated a large portion of the $1 million that the facility cost to build in the late 1990s.

Several years ago, a fund-raising foundation for the Highlands School District sold named bricks to help finance its new stadium.

School officials see little downside in the named plaques and signs that will decorate new school buildings. The one concern of school districts is that the name not be an ignominious figure -- one who earned the money illegally or has spent time in jail.

To make sure that the names are appropriate, the diocese does request final approval. But thus far, the names have been a fund-raising boon.

"This is an attraction for people to do a specific project. People respond to technology, science, computer labs, libraries, and we've even had some cafeterias," said Father Stubna. "It says a lot about the continued generosity and desire to help the schools."