56 Colleges Have Endowments Topping $1B

[Clara T]

56 Colleges Have Endowments Topping $1B


Monday January 23, 2006 5:48 AM

By JUSTIN POPE

AP Education Writer

The number of North American colleges with endowments topping $1 billion has jumped to 56, a new study says, with nine schools joining the elite club in what was an average year for university investments overall.

Harvard remained the richest, with $25.5 billion, followed by Yale with $15.2 billion.

The wealthiest per student was Rockefeller University in New York, which has no undergraduates, followed by Olin College, a small engineering school in Massachusetts that opened in 2002 and pays full tuition for all students.

The National Association of College and University Business Officers surveyed 746 institutions for the study. It found that those institutions earned an average of 9.3 percent on their investments in the year ending June 30, compared to 15.1 percent in fiscal 2004 and 3 percent in 2003.

Colleges typically spend about 5 percent of their endowment per year to support everything from scholarships to landscaping. Accounting for inflation and management fees, the investments generally need to earn about 9 percent to preserve their spending power. Last year's 9.3 percent return precisely matched the 10-year average.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-5564094,00.html

[Occulus]

1. And if they used 1% of those endowments in the same ways

but specifically designated in a manner which reduces tuition costs for the students...........?

[Scooter24]

3. I don't see any incentive

for schools like Harvard and Yale to reduce their $40,000+/per year tuition when there is such an overwhelming number of applicants willing to spend that amount.

Both schools already wipe out the parental contribution part of financial aid for students whose parents earn under $50,000/year and that alone could add up to thousands of dollars. But ultimately, that student might end with close to $100,000 in school loans.

[ugarte]

4. Or paid graduate teaching assistants a living wage...nt

[adarling]

2. thats for damn sure. n/t

[WCGreen]

5. That's a lot of well endowed colleges....