endowment news stories on Newser

Companies Fund College Endowments to Woo Lawmakers

John Johnson — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 07:23:21 CDT

Surprise, surprise: Charlie Rangel's troubles prompted the New York Times to look into the ties between academia and politics, and things don't come off squeaky clean. At least a dozen current or former lawmakers have had endowments or chairs set up in their name, and those endowments were funded (usually...

Harvard Law Kills Free Tuition Program

Rob Quinn — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:42:00 CST

Harvard Law School has suspended a free tuition program for students willing to work in public service after twice as many students as expected signed up. The Public Service Initiative, which waives tuition for students who pledge to work for the government or nonprofit organizations for 5 years after graduation,...

Harvard, Yale $18B Poorer as Endowments Drop 30%

John Johnson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:35:58 CDT

Harvard and Yale remain the richest schools in the US, but both are getting a lesson in economics. The endowments of the Ivy Leaguer shrank by about 30% over the last year thanks to risky investments, reports Bloomberg. Harvard's fell $11 billion to $26 billion and Yale's dropped $7 billion...

Looking for Extra Credit, Schools Get Downgraded

Kevin Spak — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:06:34 CDT

The credit crunch is starting to hit even top-tier universities, the Wall Street Journal reports. Both Moody’s and S&P stripped Dartmouth of its AAA rating this week. It’s the 20th college Moody’s has downgraded this year. “That’s comparable to the rate of downgrades universities saw during the dot-com bust,” said...

Wiesel: Put 'Psychopath' Madoff in Prison

Harry Kimball — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:17:05 CST

Author and Nazi hunter Elie Wiesel, who lost $15.2 million in foundation money and a good chunk of his own fortune to Bernie Madoff, railed today against the “psychopath” financier, the New York Post reports. “He should be put in a solitary cell with a screen, and on the...

Nonprofits Look to Change Rules on Endowments

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:21:00 CST

Nonprofits reeling from the market meltdown's impact on their investments are pushing to be allowed to tap endowment funds, many of which are off-limits because they've lost value, reports the Wall Street Journal. At issue is the balance between surviving the current crisis and spending funds that can never be...

It's Time to Endow Newspapers

Kevin Spak — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:23:25 CST

Newspapers are dying, and there’s only one way to save them, write Yale's David Swensen and Michael Schmidt in today’s New York Times : Make them nonprofit, endowed institutions, like colleges. The Internet has made the for-profit model systematically unsustainable, and constant attempts to refinance and cut costs are just “Band-Aids...

Yale's Endowment Drops 25% to $17B

John Johnson — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:12:41 CST

Yale's endowment is performing like those of other major universities: miserably. The Ivy League school said today that its fund had plunged 25%, or $5.9 billion, to $17 billion since July, the New Haven Independent reports. Yale's president warned of a $100 million budget shortfall in the 2009 school...

Harvard Endowment Drops $8B in Steepest Loss Ever

Ambreen Ali — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:10:01 CST

Harvard, the world's richest university, saw its endowment plunge 22% between June and October of this year, the worst loss in its history, the Boston Globe reports. Revenue generated by the endowment, which fell by $8 billion, pays for 35% of the school's operation, and Harvard president Drew Faust expects...