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by nerfhammer 3168 days ago
And what's the deal with universities pursuing stupendous multi-billion dollar endowments and never lowering tuition?

It's like a competition between universities to see who can get the biggest war chest. Lacking any market concerns they're just looking for some variable to maximize just to keep themselves occupied. It seems largely orthogonal to any social purpose a university is supposed to have.
1 comments
closeparen 3168 days ago
Endowments are there to provide "passive income" for the university and not to be spent. One of the main things interest on an endowment funds is financial aid. Endowment size is a pretty decent proxy for how generous a financial aid program is.

Spending down an endowment could provide lots of free tuition... for a few years. Universities (like the Church) think in centuries.

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Fomite 3168 days ago
Pretty much this. Whether or not my alma mater could go to a "need blind" admissions policy was entirely a function of whether or not the endowment was in the right shape.

IIRC they managed it in 2007 and then...in 2008...well, that went away.

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