<p>Marite – Harvard can lose 1% of its endowment since it has gotten very good returns on a number of its alternative (risky) investments. This should be an object lesson to less well endowed institutions, pension funds, etc.</p>
<p>Personally, I find it silly that Harvard and the handfull of mega endowed schools bother to charge tuition. Out of the $35k (?) they give back a big chunk in fnanacial aid, netting 60%. Then they have the expenses the financial aid office, all the forms and records. All the time that gets spent collecting and accounting for the money.</p>
<p>Of course, it is totally unrestriced cash, unlike endowments.</p>
<p>However, other colleges would shun them, and supply and demand being what it is, they could charge a lot more.</p>
<p>I would like to see them drop a couple of sports and auction a few spots to make up for eliminating tuition. I’ll bet they could sell 100 places for $1m each.</p>
<p>That would also add a new dimension to the rankings. If all the Ivies did the same thing, you would have a market based ranking criteria. </p>
<p>I am with Mini – there are a billion or two humans that live on $1/day, and it is hard to see giving institutions that can’t really spend their money in a rational fashion even more problems.</p>