USC Consistent Top Fundraiser With Harvard and Stanford

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
41

<p>

</p>

<p>SeattleW, I’ve also read the article, and I didn’t see that suggestion anywhere. I’m not saying you’re trying to criticize Stanford here, just that I’ve never heard the suggestion (not even from Stanford students who criticize its relationship with SV) that professors are somehow using their students for investment opportunities. I can’t find anything in the New Yorker article that makes that charge, either.</p>

<p>It’s definitely true that USC didn’t have the financial backing at its founding. Having a strong fiscal origin always bodes well for the university. Comparing it to the others that did, however, is a little misleading. Vanderbilt has had money, but still isn’t among the ‘super-elite.’ Chicago is elite, of course, but not nearly at the HYPS level (Chicago holds the record for being the best-endowed at founding). Duke secured a larger endowment long after its founding, but still didn’t rise to the top 10 until recent decades. Stanford is unique in its situation because of the 1906 earthquake: the campus was very expensive to build in the first place and then had to be re-built (and as a result, its financial backing was depleted, and it had to start charging tuition).</p>

<p>Still, the development of USC, Chicago, Stanford, etc. has been strong regardless and occurred piecemeal over the decades. All of them seem to be accelerating more recently, so it will be interesting to see where this growth leads them.</p>

42

<p>Update: From 2001 to 2012, these are the schools that made the top ten list in terms of money raised (number of years in top ten list in that period):</p>

<p>Harvard, Stanford, Hopkins, Penn: (12)
Columbia (11)
USC (10)
Cornell, Yale (9)</p>

<p>Other replies are welcome!</p>

43

<p>Update:</p>

<p>Schools that made the top ten list from 2001 through 2013:</p>

<p>Harvard, Stanford, Hopkins, Penn (13)
Columbia (12)
USC (11)
Cornell, Yale (10)</p>

44

<p>Top Five Fundraising Universities for Fiscal 2013</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Stanford
$931 Million</p></li>
<li><p>Harvard
$792 Million</p></li>
<li><p>University of Southern California
$674 Million</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia
$646 Million</p>

<ol>
<li> Johns Hopkins
$518 Million</li>
</ol></li>
</ol>

<p>The above includes funds received, not amounts pledged.</p>

45

<p>Latest Update on Campaign for USC</p>

<p>Goal----$6 Billion</p>

<p>Amount raised as of June 30, 2014</p>

<p>$3.55 Billion</p>

<p>Most recent large donations:</p>

<p>Viterbi Family----$15 Million
Tom Barrack------$15 Million</p>

<p>As of June 2014 the number of donors to the campaign was listed at 235,045.</p>

46

Update:

Schools that made top ten list from 2001 through 2014:

Harvard, Stanford, Hopkins, Penn (14)
Columbia (13)
USC (12)
Cornell (11)
Yale (10)

47

Here is the latest news. For the second year in a row, USC raised the third highest amount after Harvard and Stanford. People are taking notice.

  1. Harvard
  2. Stanford
  3. USC
  4. Northwestern
  5. Hopkins
  6. Cornell
  7. Texas
  8. Penn
  9. Washington
  10. Columbia

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-ln-usc-donations-20150127-story.html

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/01/29/yale-slides-in-donation-rankings/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/harvard-stanford-lead-record-year-for-college-gifts-1422421261

48

According to a Common Fund study, “The Growth of College Endowments 1960 to 1990,” which you can download, USC had the highest growth rate of all major colleges between 1962 and 1987, a 25 year span:

1962: USC endowment: $17,934,000
Stanford endowment: $194,071,000

1987: USC: $401,171,000
Stanford: $1,676,950,000

USC increase: 2,137% (number 1)
Stanford increase: 764% (number 23)

From 1962 to 2014 (52 years):

USC: $17,934,000 to $4,600,000,000
Stanford: $194,071,000 to $21,400,000,000

USC increase: 25,550%
Stanford increase: 10,926%

1962 endowment ratio: Stanford 10.82 x USC
2014 endowment ratio: Stanford 4.6 x USC

USC is slowly but surely closing the gap.

49

For the third year in a row, USC raised the third highest amount after Stanford and Harvard:

  1. Stanford $1.63 B
  2. Harvard $1.05 B
  3. USC $653 Mil
  4. UC San Francisco $609 Mil
  5. Cornell $591 Mil
  6. Johns Hopkins $583 $Mil
  7. Columbia $553 Mil
  8. Princeton $550 Mil
  9. Northwestern $537 Mil
  10. Penn $517 Mil

Source - Council for Aid to Education

50

But LA times reported donations are down 11% for USC this past year, even with being third, that is a big chunk of change. Rumbling on street is alumni are concerned with path of university - disregarding legacy and alumni, too big, and changes to the student body to a population that is unlikely to donate in the future. Time will tell.

51

Yes, I am very, very angry that Nikias has exploded the size of the undergraduate student body. He doesn’t care about the undergrads, just international students and School of Engineering.

Nikias needs to go.

USC was a better place in the 1980s when we were much smaller.

52

It’s a shame USC doesn’t convert this into more generous FA packages. Indeed, Barnard has a very small endowment but caps loans at a low level. USC is much, much richer and piles the loans on. I speak as a lower income student.

53

Barnard has 2,300 students while USC has 43,000. Barnard has higher endowment per student but is far more desperate for students to attend their 4 acre campus (Yes, I was surprised when I read that as well - that’s like a quarter of the size of the USC village). Clearly, they have lower operating expenses, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had to distribute aid across a far smaller percentage of students than USC. If you were to compare income statements, Barnard would be expending less than 5% the money USC does on Financial Aid, which is presently $460 million.

24% of USC undergraduates are pell grant recipients, and most of them attend USC for pennies. I am one.

54

For the fourth year in a row, USC raised the third highest amount after Harvard and Stanford:

"Institutions that Raised the Most (and Amount Raised), 2016

  1. Harvard University ($1.19 billion)
  2. Stanford University ($951.15 million)
  3. University of Southern California ($666.64 million)
  4. Johns Hopkins University ($657.29 million)
  5. University of California-San Francisco ($595.94 million)
  6. Cornell University ($588.26 million)
  7. Columbia University ($584.81 million)
  8. University of Pennsylvania ($542.85 million)
  9. University of Washington ($541.44 million)
  10. Yale University ($519.15 million)
  11. Duke University ($506.44 million)
  12. University of California-Los Angeles ($498.80 million)
  13. New York University ($461.15 million)
  14. University of Chicago ($443.30 million)
  15. University of Michigan ($433.78 million)
  16. Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($419.75 million)"

Source - Council for Aid to Education

55

Interesting to see UCSF’s presence on the list. This is because of a couple extraordinarily large donations, correct?

It is certainly a school with seemingly fewer resources than the rest of the institutions in the rankings.

56

UCSF medical research reputation draws big donors…some consistent biggies:

Helen Diller Foundation (largest $500M last month), Zuckerberg/Chen, The Atlantic Philanthropies (Chuck Feeney)

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2014/06/115481/forbes-buffett-honor-ucsf%E2%80%99s-no-1-donor

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2017/01/405476/largest-ever-gift-ucsf-honors-philanthropist-helen-diller

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2016/09/mark-zuckerberg-ucsf-facebook-marc-benioff.html

57

USC is going to extend the campaign for another 5 years as well. Will be interesting to see what the new goal is.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-usc-fundraising-20170215-story.html

Bravo to Nikias and company! Now it’d be nice if they’d actually stop growing the grad student population and provide adequate housing and financial aid for all of the students they DO admit.

58

For my contribution I should at least get my name written in chalk on a paving stone or something.

59

A real shame all this fundraising doesn’t translate into good financial aid. In my experience, USC ranks up there with NYU and Boston University in gapping students or loading them up with loans.

60

USC has great financial aid, about 2/3 of students receive some form of it and these numbers are considered high among top-ranking private research universities relative to endowment: http://financialaid.usc.edu/undergraduates/students.html

“In my experience, USC ranks up there with NYU and Boston University”… do you really have experience with several students from each university so that from your experience you can form a ranking? I highly doubt it. If you have a source that ranks universities by “gapping students or loading them up with loans” please provide it.