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What do you hear a lot of?

“Save our children, stop global warming!” “Save our children, save our schools!” “Save our children, save the rain forest!”

I want to talk about the second. The third is all but passe—what’s the rain forest again? And the first is a farce, face it.

Now to be honest, I’ll admit the second is generally used in reference to Public Schools; but the sentiment certainly extends to Higher Education. When is the last time you gave a donation to your alma mater? Maybe you’re stingy like me and the answer is never. So when’s the last time you were “asked” by your alma mater to give a donation? For me, it was a month or so ago. I think I can safely guess this sort of scam (BYU exempt) befalls a large proportion of Americans at least once a year. If not overtly solicited, educational sentiment/pathos is a continual source of political leverage. Schools always need more funding, right? We’re doomed without our beloved universities and colleges, right? Let me give you some numbers.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, more than $349 billion is held in the endowments of 247 of the nation’s major universities.

The endowments of a few major and not so major universities:

Yale: A total somewhere between $16-20 billion. Last year the endowment yielded returns of 22.9%, or $3.4 billion. Why are they charging tuition again?

Harvard: $25.9 billion. Need I say more? It’s disgusting when you think what they charge in tuition.

Northwestern University: $5.14 billion

University of Washington: $2.5 billion

New York University: $2 billion

Brigham Young University: $589 million

UCSD: $485 million

Colorado State: $193 million (and who’s heard of Colorado State?)

Point: These schools don’t need your money. In fact, I wonder why they even charge tuition.

What do you hear a lot of?

“Due to bla bla bla, we’re forced to raise tuition again this year by bla bla bla?”

ref: http://www.yale.edu/investments/Yale_Endowment_06.pdf www.google.com