What does a lower endowment really mean?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Brown University
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<p>In comparison to schools like Princeton and Yale, Brown has a much lower endowment per student. How does this impact student life at Brown? Is it really that big of a deal?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

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<p>and</p>

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<p>Both of the above are quoted from</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/498659-two-questions-popular-classes-brown-s-endowment.html?highlight=endowment[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/498659-two-questions-popular-classes-brown-s-endowment.html?highlight=endowment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>smaller* endowment</p>

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<p>Thanks for the responses. Sorry about my error.</p>

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<p>$3 billion isn’t chump change. considering brown is primarily an undergraduate school, it is wealthier than the vast majority of schools in the world, and per student it is wealthier than half of the ivy league</p>

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<p>Maybe you should ask your mom.</p>

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<p>I know Brown has money because when I put in a service request for a crappy shower head they replaced it with a nice new chrome one! Blinged that sucker out.</p>

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<p>I think that per student we rank above Penn and Cornell, but this is somewhat misleading, because many of the grad students (especially at Penn and Columbia) go to “cash cow” programs like Ed. D’s, MBAs, etc., which tend to be net moneymakers for the school and not suck endowment funds. Per student there’s probably much more endowment money spent on undergrads than grad students, so basing per student funds strictly the entire student body can be misleading</p>

<p>that said, mostly it means dumb minor **** like we refuse to build a new student center and instead renovate the same old buildings over and over, and can’t afford quite as much shiny new stuff as say Princeton, don’t do stuff like put printers in dorms, etc. practically speaking we have more than enough money, it just means we might not have all the latest luxuries of some schools with gigantic endowments</p>

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<p>First of all, I spent the summer at Yale and they had as many facility ******** issues as Brown, FWIW.</p>

<p>Second, elpope, you should be aware that we don’t have a student center largely because there was outrage at the idea on the part of both students and administration/faculty at some point when it was announced as an idea for the campus. People thought it would make Brown look more like everyone else and take away the charm of Brown and how Brown’s space reflects it’s attitude-- small little, independent locations where you search a bit to find your way kind of thing. Informal space for students rather than singular, unifying gathering space, etc etc.</p>

<p>I personally think it’s crap, but a lot of people feel that way. It’s not a money issue-- if it were, we’d have a fund set up to donate to in order to build the space we desire. It was decided that a traditional student center (which some initial ideas were drawn up for in Metcalf Chem along where the walk is beginning across from the Greenhouse… this would have been a massive rebuilding/renovation) was not something that fit Brown.</p>

<p>So I stand by the quotes that were already taken from me earlier in this thread, which is basically that the effect is 0.</p>

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<p>fwiw, i would love a student center. but what good is one that is built on some space above pembroke? i say renovate something on the main campus, which, by the way, often costs more than a new building. so it’s not about money sometimes. </p>

<p>Brown has a lot of money. Often wastes it. My art history class had a projector that cost $12000. For a 12 people and a 9x9 screen. You don’t need to worry about pixelation on a 9x9 screen. Everyone was asleep anyways…</p>