<p>I was wondering how Tulane can afford to shell out tens of thousands of $$ in scholarships when more "highly ranked"" unis like NYU or Tufts with almost 2 billion $ endowments (while Tufts has around $940,000,000 in endowment) seem to be nowhere near as generous?</p>
<p>It’s a great question, @Jarjarbinks23 . Although Tulane’s endowment isn’t that different from the two you mention. Isn’t it just a smidge over $1 billion still? Still, none of us can really address the question as to where the money comes from, or why these other schools are not as generous. For Tulane it is, I think, just wanting to be aggressive in attracting top students i.e. strategic marketing. Because as wonderful as many of us think New Orleans is, it can be a tough sell to some that are fixated on the Northeastern schools, or other major cities. Money talks, and by especially focusing the generous scholarships on early applicants, it gets them to visit. Then many start to see the charm that the rest of us do and the conversion process proceeds apace. </p>
<p>BTW, it is a lot more than tens of thousands of $$, it is millions. Last year about $13M was awarded in merit scholarships to those that had no financial need for the incoming class alone. That does not include athletic scholarships. I guess these other schools choose to use that money for other purposes, which is not a bad thing, it is just a choice. In the case of NYU, there have been any number of near-scandals (for lack of a better term) regarding millions spent by Sexton in ways that certainly seem profligate. Tulane chooses to continue to try and attract the brightest students by rewarding them for their accomplishments so far, especially given the intense competition for these students from many other schools.</p>