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Out of curiosity, can you provide a source for the 5% figure? I’ve never heard that term before. Also, where’s the proof that Michigan or any other state school spends all the money they receive from the state annually instead of investing it in financial assets? It’s tough to gauge the financial security and stability of state universities since they receive cash inflows from numerous sources and their money is tied up in the hands of so many independent organizations that it would seem almost impossible to me that UT Austin or Michigan can effectively streamline their financial resources to target their undergraduates specifically like a private school such as Emory or Northwestern can.</p>
<p>All these state schools have a lot more faculty members that they have to pay and a lot more facilities to maintain with their money. Private schools such as Duke or Emory don’t have nearly the capital expenditures that public schools like Michigan and Berkeley do.</p>
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A lot of this school’s endowment goes toward funding its large graduate programs that accomodate approximately 15,000 postgraduates as well as its undergraduate population of about 26,000.</p>
<p>The private school that has experienced the largest growth in endowment over the last 20 years only has 7,000 postgraduates and about 6,500 undergrads to take care of. It also has no School of Art & Design, School of Music, School of Theater & Dance, Dentistry School, School of Architecture and Design, Pharmacy School, School of Kinesiology, etc. etc etc. to fund either.</p>
<p>It’s pretty clear which has better financial solvency to service the needs of its undergraduates.</p>