Locator: 48663HARVARD.
The Harvard endowment:
Harvard's endowment is the largest university endowment in the world, currently valued at $53.2 billion. It's a permanent source of funding that supports the university's teaching and research mission. The endowment is managed by Harvard Management Company, which invests the funds to generate revenue for the university. While a significant portion of the endowment is restricted for specific purposes, it still provides a substantial contribution to Harvard's operating budget, covering about 37% of the total.
So, over $50 billion in Harvard's endowment, and we get this headline WSJ sob-story. Something does not add up.
From the link:
Harvard University would face a budget shortfall of about a billion dollars a year if President Trump follows through on all of his plans and threats spanning research funding, tax policy and student enrollment, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.
That grim math helps explain why Harvard has taken steps toward negotiating with the administration after months of defiance. The Journal’s estimate, based on publicly available data, is for a worst-case scenario in which Harvard loses all federal research funding, federal student aid and its ability to enroll international students, and Congress hikes its annual endowment tax to 8%.
A sustained shortfall of that magnitude would severely strain Harvard’s ability to manage its $6.4 billion annual operating budget. Though Harvard has a $53 billion endowment, more than 80% of the money is subject to donor restrictions, meaning it can’t be touched to patch budget gaps without inviting lawsuits.
“They’ve got enough money to keep going for a while, but eventually they’re going to have to make substantial cuts,” said Robert Kelchen, a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who studies education finance. “You would change the future of the institution.”
Does anyone really believe that quote?
