New endowment numbers out

College Search & Lists
41

<p>Agreed. Economies of scale come into play.</p>

42

<p>“Per capita is one measure but only among comparable type schools”
still…makes no sense to me</p>

43

<p>Well, if you have $1,000,000 per student that means about $50,000 can be spent per student to fund top profs and other things. If you have only $100,000 per student you can only spend about $5,000 per student which won’t buy nearly as much as $50,000. That’s the difference between Harvard and say, Knox College.</p>

44

<p>It’s not exactly that simple (1:1 ratio). A professor’s salary is going to pretty much be the same regardless of whether there are 15 students in her class or 20. The fitness center will probably need more equipment for 1,500 students than it will for 1,000, but the infrastructure costs will not be drastically different. Yes, you’ll need more dorms for more students, but you’ll also be collecting more room and board from those additional students, partially offsetting costs. Look at Grinnell, the wealthiest LAC based on total endowment value–they just announced that they’re going to raise tuition by 12.6% to make fees more in line with Carleton, Oberlin, and Macalester.</p>

45

<p>Speaking of salary, there are quite a bit of disparity among schools: ;)</p>

<p>School 2005-06 average salary of all ranks*
Harvard 135.9
Stanford 131.5
Cal. Tech. 129.7
Pennsylvania 124.2
Princeton 121.5
Columbia 119.1
Northwestern 115.8
M.I.T. 114.1
Yale 112.1
Chicago 111.4
Duke 110.5
Cornell 106.3
Emory 104.8
U.C.L.A. 103.4
U.C. Berkeley 103.4
Brown 101.4
Washington U. 100.5
N.Y.U. 98.3
Carnegie-Mellon 96.6
U.S.C. 96.1
Rice 95.9
Virginia 95.2
U.C.S.D. 94.7
Michigan 91.4
Maryland 91.2
Rutgers 91.2
Illinois 91.2
Vanderbilt 91.1
U.C. Santa Barbara 90.6
Johns Hopkins 90.4
Minnesota 89.9
Rochester 89.7
Ohio State 89.0
Case Western 88.5
U.C. Irvine 87.8
U.C. Davis 87.8
North Carolina 87.1
Texas 85.9
Brandeis 85.6
Wisconsin 85.3
SUNY-Stony Brook 84.7
Iowa 84.4
Arizona 83.9
SUNY-Buffalo 83.1
Purdue 82.3
Michigan State 82.0
Tulane 81.4
U. of Wash. 81.3
Florida 81.0
Indiana 80.5
Texas A&M 80.2
Pittsburgh 79.3
Penn State 79.3
Colorado 79.1
Syracuse 78.2
Kansas 77.9
Nebraska 77.1
Iowa State 74.6
Missouri 72.1
Oregon 65.0</p>

<ul>
<li>all ranks = prof, associate prof, assistant prof</li>
</ul>

46

<p>Don’t forget to factor in the COL.</p>

47

<p>Sam Lee</p>

<p>Do you have numbers for the LACs, Dartmouth and Tufts?</p>

48

<p>Tufts’ endowment grew more than any other in the country in 2006. UWisconsin came in 2nd, MIT 3rd.</p>

<p>From the Boston Globe:</p>

<p>

</p>

49

<p>danas,</p>

<p>No I don’t. I don’t think LACs will give as much as the top research U on the list since their profs aren’t as pressured to publish as those in research U. You get what you pay for.</p>

<p>The numbers you see include all ranks of profs. So the ranking on that list shouldn’t be viewed too literally. The difference between prof and associate can be pretty significant. At Northwestern, the profs made an average of $140K, the associate $93K, and assistant $81K; profs make up 50% of all ranks there. So until we get know the distribution, we can’t really say one definitely pays more than another if the two are close on the list. Also keep in mind to factor cost of living, as k&s pointed out.</p>

50

<p>Here are the four-year colleges:</p>

<p><a href=“http://chronicle.com/stats/aaup/aaupresults.php?Year=2006&State_Type=All%20states&Category_type=IIB&Sort=PR_no&Unranked=0[/url]”>http://chronicle.com/stats/aaup/aaupresults.php?Year=2006&State_Type=All%20states&Category_type=IIB&Sort=PR_no&Unranked=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You can’t directly compare university and college salaries. University numbers include biz school profs, profs, law school profs, and research professors who are required to fund their own positions by selling their research services, etc.</p>

<p>Also, you have go factor in sabbatical policies. For example, Swarthmore’s number does not include a guaranteed full pay sabattical semester after every three years of teaching…a policy that applies to all tenure and tenure-track faculty.</p>

<p>Among similar schools, the average salaries depend, in part, on the age of the faculty, i.e. how long they’ve been at the school.</p>

51

<p>please remember that the endowment doesn’t play nearly as big as a a role as many of you think - its not as if the endowment is a big check book - its all mostly locked up in investments that can’t readily be touched.</p>

<p>Most universities (and very wealthy people) live off the interest of their interest. so if you have $1,000,000 making 10%…you would take 10% of your interest (so $10,000) and spend that…that way you have disposable income and your nest egg grows. obviously its much more complicated then that, but thats the gist of how the endowment is supposed to work.</p>

52

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<p>Endowment spending plays a very big role at schools with big endowments.</p>

<p>For example, endowment spending in the operating budget at Swarthmore was $29,124 per student.</p>

<p>It is true that most US colleges and universities don’t have endowments to speak of. These colleges have to cover their operating expenses entirely from student fees. But, do not underestimate the role endowments play in elite colleges and universities. </p>

<p>The reason that the top-ranked schools are top-ranked is ultimately because they spend the most and offer the fanciest product, thanks to their endowments. For example, Swarthmore spent $69,212 per student last year, but only charged an average of $28,068 in tuition, room, and board (after financial aid discounts). </p>

<p>If Mercedes put a $69k car on sale for $28k, they’d probably have a top-ranked car and a line of customers (applicants) lined up around the block, too. The power of the endowment.</p>

53

<p>Re: Endowment spending.
At the extreme, Princeton’s endowment is approaching $2 million per student. At the minimum targeted annual payout rate of 4%, that’s $80,000 per student per year, and rising. Pretty significant effect, I’d say.</p>