Yale’s own endowment reports say that 25 percent of the endowment is board restricted- donors did not restrict it. One quarter of 23.9 billion dollars. Funds that actually are restricted are not exactly restricted to esoteric things.dinirs can restrict a gift but after that they no longer have a say or otherwise the IRS disallows a gift deduction. Donors can ask for a report of how the money was spent but beyond that, they are not entitled to much.
vladdenschlutte, no they have portfolios that are constructed in a way that is expected to perform well over the long term. Believe me, if endowments built their portfolios to be highly liquid people would complain that management is not doing enough to get a higher return that would meet the future needs of their schools.
Nope, sorry. Stopping hot breakfasts while sitting on Biliions of dollars. That is just greedy. I can pull a balance sheet even in that time period and there was plenty of cash. They are in an ego battle with the others in endowment per student.
It makes me weep Arkenstone-sized crocodile tears to imagine Harvard’s financial distress to try to keep the lights on…
So every non-profit with an endowment has to provide waffles and scrambled eggs- whether or not anyone wants them or needs them- just so Joe Public has the satisfaction of knowing that the organization knows how to ^&* away money?
Save your ire for the public school systems across the country which throw away tons of fresh produce every day- because they are mandated to serve fruits and vegetables but the kids only eat chicken nuggets and fries. Try explaining to an obese third greater that an apple is a perfectly acceptable “dessert” for lunch… on the public dime no less.
From a 2009 NYT story re. Harvard…
So while cutting staff and eliminating free sweatsuits for athletes, cookies at faculty meetings and eggs and oatmeal at breakfast Harvard was maintaining its financial aid commitments. It seems fair to me in the face of a 27% drop in its endowment.
These posts have been illustrative in explaining how some people never seem to have enough.
There’s a difference between a nonprofit giving stuff away it can’t afford, and a nonprofit charging its customers a quarter of a million dollars/ea that the nonprofit clearly doesn’t need.
http://finance.harvard.edu/files/fad/files/2009fullreport.pdf
Page 25 at the end of fiscal 2009 they had 4 billion dollars in cash.
Page 4. At the same time, while the economy was at its worst, “student revenue” dropped by 1 percent. They accomplished that with a 20 percent increase in financial aid. Increase financial aid twenty percent, revenue goes down 1 percent? That means they jacked list prices way up to accomplish that generous 20 percent increase in financial aid. so much so, that they only took in 1 percent less than the year before.
Not every not for profit @blossom. But when we are talking about these four or five- yes.
Good grief, why are people stuck on 2009? In 2009, Osama Bin Laden was still alive & well, and Apple was only on iPhone3.
It’s 2015. Harvard’s endowmt is over $32 billion.
Let’s say, super conservatively, H only earns 5% per year on $32b. The annual earnings divided by 10,000 students is $160k per student per year. So tell me why H gets to pay no taxes yet charges most of its customers $60k per year?
I think it’s cute that some people believe these schools should spend their endowment money on practical things - lowering tuition costs and philanthropic efforts. The cold reality is that the size of an endowment pot is seen as a prestige indicator (also a ranking metric), and as such, schools CHOOSE to hoard money since they are afraid of a hit on their rankings.
@gmtplus7 The apologists are stuck on 2009 because that is the doomsday scenario that the endowment managers must plan for. My point is that during doomsday the students and staff were not protected. The endowment was.
In fairness, they only charge half their customers 60k a year. The rest pay less.
In 2014, a year net assets increased by more than 4 billion dollars-
“Revenue from students grew 6%, driven by modest increases in rate and enrollment partly offset by a continued commitment to financial aid.” Page 6
Page 3- in this “difficult context”, they cut staff and faculty health benefits.
http://finance.harvard.edu/files/fad/files/har_fy14_financialreport.pdf
Exactly, and those full payers are in the top ~5% of income in the world. Why do they deserve a free breakfast (lunch and dinner)? Dues at the Westchester Country Club starting to take a chunk out of disposable income? 
If you are a “customer” of Harvard’s, and you object to paying 60K a year that they don’t need there is an easy answer- send your kid somewhere else. To me, the idea of being full pay at any one of 100 schools which charge the same as Harvard to its full pay customers, charge quite a bit to families who are on aid because they gap, AND provide a significantly lower quality experience from an academic perspective (let’s talk about the rigor of all those sports management degrees or leisure studies, shall we?) strikes me as a worse deal than being full pay at Harvard.
But I don’t have a kid at (and have zero affiliation with) Harvard. So to me- you don’t think they “deserve” tuition- then don’t pay it. Send your kid to High Point which has a much lower endowment. Send your daughter to Sweet Briar and sit with baited breath to see if an undercapitalized and underenrolled institution will even open its doors next month.
If you object to Harvard’s tax status- then that’s a policy issue. Why is the Catholic church among the biggest landlords in many major cities on the East Coast and why are they tax exempt when owning primo property in some of the most expensive addresses in the country??? I’m not Catholic- why should I subsidize my neighbor’s parish? Why is the Red Cross tax exempt when their blood/biological services division brings in over a billion in revenue every year by selling-- quite ironically- the substances which donors like me give away for nothing (and don’t even get a tax deduction for doing so)…
You’re bothered by the end of free waffles in Cambridge? Save your ire.
What is the Catholic Church’ endowment per parishioner/community member served versus Harvard’s endowment per student? I bet Harvard wins hands down.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I love Blossom.
I do not think anyone has the right to tell universities what to do with their money. you could argue that congress could deduct X% of any funding to schools that do not free up some of their endowments to spend on students.but, that would punish schools with more money.even if congress passed a bill like that.
I do not see the current president agreeing to it.
@blossom - Morristown Memorial Hospital just lost its state real estate tax exempt status for a variety of reasons including excessive compensation. You can read about the decision here:
Given that 42 college presidents make more than $1,000,000 per annum, there is a strong argument that they are not being run for the public good, but to enrich their current employees.