<p>See: Student</a> Life - Wrighton: Endowment down 25%; wage cuts, construction delays imminent</p>
<p>Thanks for the news, though it is sad.... Does this mean that they will admit more students who don't need financial aid? How will this affect their financial aid policies in the long run?</p>
<p>Can't be sure about the effects on admissions and financial aid. If I were to speculate, more students may be admitted ED because they often require no or little financial aid, and that truly outstanding students who need a lot of financial aid will still get it.</p>
<p>"truly outstanding students who need a lot of financial aid will still get it"
-how much I hope this is the case! thank you showmethedata!</p>
<p>It was stated in the letter that reserves are definitely being conserved in order to safeguard "financial aid and other future needs," so I'm sure that financial aid will continue to be available for those who need it. As to the effect on "their financial aid policies in the long run," let's just hope that the current condition of the national economy will not be around for that "long run," since that is, obviously, the reason for all of this.</p>
<p>I'd be interested to see a list that shows where Wash U stands in percentage of endowment lost compared to all other schools.</p>
<p>Have not seen a list of endowment losses. For comparison, Harvard recently reported a 12% decline in its endowment. See:
Harvard</a> looks to tighten its belt - The Boston Globe</p>
<p>Clarification--Harvard's 12% loss was calculated as: $4.5B loss/$36.9B total endowment. However, Harvard's loss is >12% because the Boston Globe article indicated that the $4.5B figure applies only to the part of the endowment earmarked for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the largest component of the university. Harvard has not yet disclosed losses incurred by its entire endowment.</p>
<p>Will WashUStL be economizing on postage & mailouts in favor of emails?</p>
<p>are they need-blind at WashU?</p>
<p>@Smeagz - Nope, not yet anyway. Ronaldo1988 and Gprime pointed that out with a link in the "What to say about financial aid" thread, i believe. Technically it's described as "partial" need-awareness, or something.</p>
<p>I find it interesting that Wash U actually released information like that... they're usually rather close-handed with data. I applaud them for being up front, where many other universities haven't released exact data. </p>
<p>As said before, Harvard has lost a considerable amount. Cornell and Brown are under hiring freezes (2</a> Ivy League Universities, Hit by Financial Crisis, Announce Hiring*Freezes - Chronicle.com). Princeton is delaying a massive campus construction improvement project. No one is alone in this. </p>
<p>If anything, I think univeristities with big endowments are more hurt than the smaller ones, as a more significant portion of the endowment is used for basic activities (salaries, faculty members, research, etc).</p>
<p>Most universities, with WUSTL included, have released statements indicating committment to continued levels of financial aid support. I'd be shocked if the dollar amount went down. There will probably be needier students (not only applicants, but current students who need more $$), but I don't think it will affect most financial aid offers or packages.</p>
<p>The more of the school's budget came from endowment payouts, the more screwed the school is. 47% of Princeton's budget came from endowment, whereas Penn only depended on endowment for 8% of its budget. WUSTL, with its large Medicine sector, is probably similar in institutional structure to Penn than it is to Princeton and thus I'd imagine they are less screwed than the over-leveraged HYP types.</p>