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Share Your Views on How Colleges Should Use Their Endowment Dollars
Harvard, Yale, Stanford and other wealthy colleges and universities have pledged to use more of their endowment dollars to support financial aid needs of families in the lower and middle thirds of the income scale for their incoming students. I view this as a positive first step, but also believe that wealthy colleges could do even more, perhaps even going to a free-tuition model. Please share your views on how colleges should use their endowment dollars by leaving a comment below. Thank you for your interest in College Parents of America; please tell a friend about our organization.
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on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 4:51 pm and is filed under College, College Costs.
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March 8th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Some private colleges are “up there” as well…very close to Ivy League tuition. We have ridiculous debt to repay through Parent Plus loans for our 2 children…one has graduated and one is a sophmore. How can we watch our children work so hard in high school, do everything right, and then when it comes time for college tell them, “sorry, but we can only afford a state school.” We let both children attend small, private colleges which were perfect matches for what they needed and wanted, but we’re drowning in debt. I consider us to be middle to upper middle class, but we are both “white collar” workers and don’t have the ability to pay for college without loans as many parents out there can relate!!! Kids take stafford loans, private loans, and have some scholorship money, but tuition has gotten out of hand!!!! We’ll now be working well into our “twilight years.”
March 7th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Here is a summary of the current Harvard numbers. Many schools, of course, have small endowment funds but most of the majors could largely alleviate the parents’ burden by using only the current year’s NEW funds.
HARVARD BY THE NUMBERS
HARVARD ENDOWMENT FUND
Total 2007 assets: $34.6 billion
New 2007 inflow: $3.6 billion
Gross 2007 rate of fund growth: 19.8%
STUDENT COSTS
Number of students: 22,000
Average annual student costs: $50,500
Aggregate annual student costs: $1.1 billion
APPLYING ANNUAL GAIN IN ENDOWMENT FUND TO STUDENT EXPENSES
Estimated annual fund inflow: $3 billion
Aggregate annual student costs: $1.1 billion
Annual net rate of fund growth: 6%
WHAT STUDENTS SHOULD PAY
$-0-
March 4th, 2008 at 9:54 am
In response to your query, I believe there are mitigating circumstances. Institutions such as Harvard et al. who’ve recently altered their endowment policies obviously have extravagant wealth, which grow not on only with investment interest but the promise of substantial philanthropic contributions in the future–not to mention “indirect” or institutional fees charged to the government from research grants.
To be sure, if the new policy were to deplete the endowments of these prominent universities, the policies might certainly change, or finciancial development from donors expedition would increase.
It is a marvelous display of an attempt to enable more unprivleged and underrepresented populations from entering such prestigious universities. But, for such qualified but less affluent there have always been scholarship and fellowship opportunities.
Smaller and upcoming universities need the contrary–to enhance their endowments, not necessarily to the Ivy level, but sufficient for their sustainability. I’m not an economist, nor university administration, both of whom could more logically reply because of their knowlege of what actually happens with the endowments–are they ever “tapped” and if so for what reasons? Building and campus expansion perhaps, but certainly not professors’ salaries.
March 4th, 2008 at 8:31 am
There is no good will involved in these elite university giveaways. They are trying to avoid government scrutiny and possible regulations to make them give away 5% of their endowments annually, just like other private foundations have to do.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
With all due respect, we’ve got to recognize this PR sham for what it is. There is no altruism in the actions of these institutions. Rather, they are drawing upon their obscene surpluses to take care of their own. College did not suddenly become more accessible to the masses. These schools are simply employing a de facto merit scholarship program to make sure they can keep their enrollments from bleeding away to other places with aggressive merit programs of their own. So, who is really being served? A fraction of a percent of the kids who are college eligible are being advantaged–and they were already in the pipeline at the most prestigious schools in the country! The rest are left with the misguided notion that the HYP dream is within reach. Suggesting that other colleges simply need to tighten their belts and follow suit is like suggesting that five-star hotels can eliminate homelessness by dropping their prices. Good luck! Maybe we should be looking for a revenue sharing model instead. And the service academies? The only reason they are tuition-free is because our tax dollars support them so well–I doubt there will be much enthusiasm for that model. I don’t have any answers but fail to see the logic behind the assessment that the recent actions can/will have a material effect on access and affordability for 99% of the potential college-going population.