<p>PROVIDENCE Stung by the same economic forces that have plunged the country into deep recession, Brown University has joined the growing list of colleges forced to curtail spending as their endowments continue to lose value.In an e-mail to the Brown community this week, President Ruth J. Simmons wrote of a stunning decline in the universitys endowment: from $2.8 billion in the middle of last year, before the recession intensified, to a projected $2 billion at the end of this June.</p>
<p>Upon the close of the 2008 year, Simmons wrote, we learned more about the apparent effect of significant credit, liquidity and revenue constraints on our near-term planning. That information has led us to plan the implementation of a number of measures to reduce expenditures, constrain expansion, and limit major new obligations until we see a return to robust growth in revenue.</p>
<p>At the same time, she said the university would protect our capacity to support our financial aid program. In fact, because of the damage the economy has inflicted on students and their families, Brown will probably spend almost $1 million more than planned on scholarships for 2008-09 and still more in the future.</p>
<p>With the projected loss of $800 million more than 28 percent in its endowment, Simmons wrote, the university must cut annual operating spending by $60 million. Among the measures she outlined:</p>
<p>A reduction of $4.5 million in the overall administrative budget, a cut that will require both reductions in the number of positions in most units and reductions in operating expenses in essentially all of them.</p>
<p>A salary freeze for most faculty and staff members.</p>
<p>A slowing of a planned increase in the size of the faculty.</p>
<p>Postponement of plans to expand Browns graduate school.</p>
<p>Looking further into the future, Simmons wrote that Brown anticipates taking other measures, including deferral of some capital projects and additional cuts in administrative and other services.</p>
<p>We will have to not only pare expenditures and eliminate some amenities and services, but also think about doing some things differently, Simmons wrote. There will surely be some discomfort arising from these circumstances, and I ask that you be prepared for this eventuality.</p>
<p>In an interview, Richard R. Spies, Browns executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to Simmons, said the university is hoping to achieve staff reductions through attrition. While a larger layoff program is not contemplated, he said, employees could be laid off as the year unfolds and the recession continues.</p>
<p>Full article can be found here:
[Brown</a> endowment takes a hit | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal](<a href=“http://www.projo.com/news/content/Brown_Endowment_01-29-09_M4D4DCG_v30.39b0c66.html]Brown”>http://www.projo.com/news/content/Brown_Endowment_01-29-09_M4D4DCG_v30.39b0c66.html)</p>
<p>A list of the endowments of top U.S colleges can be found here:
[List</a> of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._colleges_and_universities_by_endowment]List”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._colleges_and_universities_by_endowment)</p>