what is the point of college endowments?

[Anonymous]

the funds are restricted yet the endowments compound to massive sizes. It seems to be a rainy day fund but not really. And it can't cover most of the operating expenses since funds are restricted

[Anonymous]

It does help still - they funds things donor have an interest in. I donate to the endowment of a center at my alma mater because I want it to last and I don't want my money to go to general operating costs. I disagree with some components of the university that I explicitly don't want to fund.

This is also why schools really push their annual fund because there's more flexibility with that money. Tuition also has a lot of flexibility. I'm so surprised how many people I talk to who don't understand that endowments are not just a free for all, bank account. But that's mostly because donors have their interests. Schools would get fewer donations if people couldn't direct them.

[Anonymous]

I have a feeling that there are a lot of bots on here asking "questions" or making statements that show alignment with the administration.

[Anonymous]

Yale spends 145k a year per student.

Yale charges 95k a year per student.

Half the students pay less, many a lot less.

The endowment makes it all work. The monies can be restricted but some pays for salaries, some pays for labs, some pays for facilities, some pays for FA, etc etc. They can pull 3-4% out a year, bridge the budget gap, and still grow the overall endowment.

[Anonymous]

The endowments are obligated to spend what works out to be half the annual return on the school. Leaving a few pct points for inflation, only a few pct is left for real growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a feeling that there are a lot of bots on here asking "questions" or making statements that show alignment with the administration.

ah yes, what a grand conspiracy. almost as dumb as maga

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the funds are restricted yet the endowments compound to massive sizes. It seems to be a rainy day fund but not really. And it can't cover most of the operating expenses since funds are restricted

Most of them say oh 90+% are "restricted" so that they can claim they cannot use the money.

In reality, most of the endowment is available to be used if necessary but of course they do not want to use them when they can use OPM (other people's money).

We need to revok their tax exempt status and even threaten to revoke their eligibility to participate in student aid programs. That will get their attention and stop them from playing games.

[Anonymous]

Yearly distributions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the funds are restricted yet the endowments compound to massive sizes. It seems to be a rainy day fund but not really. And it can't cover most of the operating expenses since funds are restricted

Most of them say oh 90+% are "restricted" so that they can claim they cannot use the money.

In reality, most of the endowment is available to be used if necessary but of course they do not want to use them when they can use OPM (other people's money).

We need to revok their tax exempt status and even threaten to revoke their eligibility to participate in student aid programs. That will get their attention and stop them from playing games.

+1,000,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale spends 145k a year per student.

Yale charges 95k a year per student.

Half the students pay less, many a lot less.

The endowment makes it all work. The monies can be restricted but some pays for salaries, some pays for labs, some pays for facilities, some pays for FA, etc etc. They can pull 3-4% out a year, bridge the budget gap, and still grow the overall endowment.

Unfortunately, Yale spends an inappropriately large amount of money on administration & administrators. Excessive spending in administrative areas should be curtailed as it is repetitive and unnecessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale spends 145k a year per student.

Yale charges 95k a year per student.

Half the students pay less, many a lot less.

The endowment makes it all work. The monies can be restricted but some pays for salaries, some pays for labs, some pays for facilities, some pays for FA, etc etc. They can pull 3-4% out a year, bridge the budget gap, and still grow the overall endowment.

+1. Just because some of the funds are restricted doesn’t mean they fund stuff the university doesn’t want to fund.

Note, too, that significant money can still be unrestricted. I think 20% of Harvard’s is unrestricted, which works out to over $10 billion. 25% of Yale’s is unrestricted so that’s another $10 billion. Draw 3-5% of that a year, it’s not insignificant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yale spends 145k a year per student.

Yale charges 95k a year per student.

Half the students pay less, many a lot less.

The endowment makes it all work. The monies can be restricted but some pays for salaries, some pays for labs, some pays for facilities, some pays for FA, etc etc. They can pull 3-4% out a year, bridge the budget gap, and still grow the overall endowment.

Unfortunately, Yale spends an inappropriately large amount of money on administration & administrators. Excessive spending in administrative areas should be curtailed as it is repetitive and unnecessary.

I think Yale is doing just fine. It’s a private not for profit. The feds spend nothing on it. And Yale pays pilot (local taxes) to New Haven.

The federal money goes to pay grants they approve for research so we things like cell service, the Internet, and a MNRA vaccine. That’s what they’re pulling. Admin costs at Yale are none of their business.

[Anonymous]

As a PP noted, the actual budget of a college or university divided by the number of students is way higher than the annual tuition. The difference is covered by endowment income. For example, most senior professorships are "endowed," meaning the restriction on the endowment goes to pay for X professor's salary. Nowadays many new teaching positions are adjunct because they aren't endowed and have to be paid out of the operating budget. When a new building is built and named after someone, some of that money goes into a restricted fund and is used to pay off capital debt and/or operating expenses for buildings and grounds. All that merit aid that students get is endowment income and restricted to reduce tuition (e.g., offset operating expenses).

This is why looking at a school's endowment is part of the application/decision process. Schools with smaller endowments are less likely to give financial aid, more likely to use adjuncts, and more likely to close in the face of declining enrollment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a feeling that there are a lot of bots on here asking "questions" or making statements that show alignment with the administration.

Or are really stupid. What do colleges spend money on that isn't operating expenses? There are capital expenses, operating expenses, and debt repayment. The category of operating expenses may be restricted (e.g., professor salary, research professor salary, building maintenance) but most of any school's spending is operating expenses.

You would also be incredibly stupid to spend a big chunk of your endowment on operating expenses. The rule is to spend about 4 percent of it each year and invest the earnings so that it doesn't deplete. A big 10-year campaign for a school might increase the endowment by a couple of percent--no school could fundraise faster that it spent if it was burning through 10 percent of its endowment every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the funds are restricted yet the endowments compound to massive sizes. It seems to be a rainy day fund but not really. And it can't cover most of the operating expenses since funds are restricted

Most of them say oh 90+% are "restricted" so that they can claim they cannot use the money.

In reality, most of the endowment is available to be used if necessary but of course they do not want to use them when they can use OPM (other people's money).

We need to revok their tax exempt status and even threaten to revoke their eligibility to participate in student aid programs. That will get their attention and stop them from playing games.

Exactly.