<p>So I'm just starting to research all of this college stuff, and as I was reading about different colleges I noticed a huge disparity between the endowments at different colleges. Namely, Kenyon College has a $120 million endowment whereas Grinnell has a $1.2 billion endowment. Since both of them are comparable sizes this seems like kind of a ridiculous difference. Does the size of an endowment truly make a difference? How much larger would one schools endowment have to be to make a noticeable difference? I understand how the concept of an endowment works, I just don't really know how much of an affect it truly has. Oh, also is endowment less important at public schools? They always seem to be lower.</p>
<p>Endowments can make a HUGE difference if used correctly. That said, many schools just let the endowments grow and not dip into them at all. Theoretically, endowments can result in endowed chairs, which means more reknown faculty. They can be used to give more merit and need based scholarships. Usually schools with low endowments have building maintenance issues. However, some endowments have a lot of restrictions, such as for medical school use,which won't benefit undergrads at all. </p>
<p>Bottom line, all things being equal, if one school has a much larger endowment, it should provide a number of advantages that a similars school can't provide. However, as noted above, this isn't always the case.</p>
<p>I believe a lot of schools have a rule by which they spend, say, 4% of the endowment every year. I'll suggest that an endowment can make a significant difference in the things a college is able to do. A LAC with a $500MM or $800MM endowment can do things that one with $100MM cannot.</p>
<p>Then there is the ridiculous endowment at Harvard--what is it, $30 billion? There's no reasong that institution should continue to raise money, but that's a debate for another day.</p>
<p>Public schools have the state coffers to support them andare less dependent on endowments. I would NOT base my decision b/w Kenyon and Grinnell on endowments; instead, base your decision on which school do you see yourself at for 4 yrs. Both are excellent so you won't make a mistake at either (Grinnell is smaller and more liberal (even though it's in the Iowa cornfields).)</p>
<p>A larger endowment can mean better financial aid.</p>
<p>Why anyone would give to Harvard or Yale is beyond me.</p>
<p>Yale made more money in ONE YEAR of endowment returns than they are asking for in their multi-year "Yale Tomorrow" campaign. Ridiculous. I wish MY school was rich.</p>