Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
Harvard’s large endowment has limits
The Trump administration said previously that Harvard would need to meet a series of conditions to keep almost $9 billion in grants and contracts.
The school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has an endowment of $53 billion, the largest in the country. Across the university, federal money accounted for 10.5% of revenue in 2023, not counting financial aid such as Pell grants and student loans.
Harvard isn’t alone in its reliance on federal money. Universities receive about 90% of all federal research spending, taking in $59.6 billion in 2023, according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.
That accounts for more than half the $109 billion spent on research at universities, with most of the rest coming from college endowments, state and local governments and nonprofits.
To make up for the loss in federal funding, McMahon on Monday suggested Harvard rely on “its colossal endowment” and raise money from wealthy alumni.
Harvard generally steers about 5% of its endowment value toward university operations every year, accounting for about a third of its total budget, according to university documents.
The university could draw more from its endowment, but colleges generally try to avoid spending more than 5% to protect investment gains. Like other schools, Harvard is limited in how it spends endowment money, much of which comes from donors who specify how they want it to be used.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
