College presidents are opening up their wallets to their favorite candidates for U.S. president, with some of them shelling out thousands of dollars in the first six months of this year, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Among the most generous was Donna E. Shalala, president of the University of Miami, who was President Bill Clinton’s secretary of health and human services. From January 1 to June 30 she gave $4,600 to her former boss’s wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, a Democratic candidate.

Lu Hardin, president of the University of Central Arkansas, also honored past political ties, by giving $2,300 to the presidential campaign of his state’s former governor, Mike Huckabee, a Republican. Mr. Hardin directed the Arkansas Department of Higher Education under Mr. Huckabee from 1997 to 2002.

Among other presidential contenders receiving support from home-state college leaders, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a Democrat, collected $2,300 from the president of the University of New Mexico, David J. Schmidly.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, a Democratic candidate, took in $1,000 this year from B. Joseph White, president of the University of Illinois system.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney, a Republican candidate and former Massachusetts governor, has a friend out in Colorado. Hank Brown, president of the University of Colorado system and a former Republican member of Congress, gave him $2,300. —Sara Hebel