<p>Yes, you are right that I was asking a serious question and was not in “a disputive mood”, and especially not in a mood of promoting or degrading any school.</p>
<p>First, what do you mean by “you could expel all students but one”? My point is that endowment per student in a way is a choice while total endowment is not. More importantly, endowment per student being as high as possible is not unversally pursued by all schools while total endowment being as large as possible is. The significance of a big enough endowment is that it enables a school to implement its values and priorities effectively and sometimes the priorities don’t inlcude reaching the highest endowment per student.</p>
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<p>Would highest endowment per student necessarily lead to lowest tuition fees, most financial aid and scholarship money or highest percentage of students recieving it? Is SPS in such a position? By that, I am not blaming SPS. I am simply trying to say that endowment (totoal or per student) does show the strength of a school but the differences in range doesn’t necessarily make a difference in all aspect of the school operation on a daily basis.</p>
<p>Endowment per student is telling, but it’s not more telling than the total endowment. Endowment’s function is mainly long term. It shows the financial resources the school can draw from in good and bad days. In really bad days, a school with huge endowment may cut back on enrollment and still survive. What about the schools with smaller endowment but higher endowment per student already? There’s no room for them to cut back and they’d have to close the door. Of course, I am talking about extreme senarios, which may never happen.</p>