please show us where it says TCNJ does not have the ability to use the same tax code in the same fashion as Princeton. The major difference is that Princeton (one of the oldest instituions in america) has been building an endowment worth BILLIONS over time. While they do hand out much in the way of needs based aid they DO NOT come close to distributing any kind of meaningful sum to the student population relative to the size of that endowment.
add in the property tax abatements and such and its why higher education has become big business and profitabe at that. In fact , you would have to be an idiot not to continually grow the war chest under these circumstances.
The difference is a public school like TCNJ has ALWAYS handed out substantial aid and or reinvested into the facitlity at a rate much higher vs their growth of that endowment if they ever even established one… Only recently have they begun to understand how valuable the compounding of those tax advantaged funds really are over long term. While overtime you will see smart publics continue to grow, it is too long in the tooth for there to ever be a level playing field until such time as there is a true apetite for tax reforms as it concerns what i will call GROSSLY overfunded endowments. Seriously, harvard sits on an
investment fund of OVER 34 BILLION dollars and it grows tax free. Sound fair to anyone other than school presidents ,
and politicians loooking to enter that sector upon retirement?
I suggest a “use tax”, meaning endowments that are so OBVIOUSLY overfunded need to spend (use the funds)on the students or community or be taxed. Put them in a position to HAVE to contribute at a RATE that matters not just a dollar figure.
50 million invested in the community sounds great but its only tiny tiny fraction of 34 billion.