Oct 5, 2017, 4:01 PM
(from the Atlantic) Alumni and other would-be donors are taking an increasingly critical look at their alma maters' endowments and fundraising campaigns, especially in the case of "elite" institutions that in some cases spend more on endowment managers than on financial aid. "We've lost sight of the idea that students, not fund managers, should be the primary beneficiaries of a university's endowment," wrote law professor Victor Fleischer of Yale, which in 2015 spent $480 million on fund manager fees and $170 million on tuition assistance. The next year, Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell took on wealthy universities that continue to ask wealthy donors for funds rather than dispersing more of the cash they have already banked.
Policymakers, too, have shown concern. In 2016, legislators introduced at least two bills targeting schools with large endowments, in one case asking that Yale's commercial property be taxed. The bill died, but policymakers have only stepped up scrutiny of tax breaks and other subsidies received by some private institutions.
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