>...this thought has been in the back of my mind since we started hearing about the spectacular gains from Ivy League endowments and why they aren’t doling them out to at-need students.
This is a very frustrating statement. First, unless I'm missing something, endowments aren't showing "spectacular gains" as of late. Additionally, Ivy League schools are doling out financial aid to at-need students. For example, Harvard has "no expected parent contribution" for students whose parents make less than $60k per year. (http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/hfai...). Cornell has replaced any offered loans with grants for students whose parents make less than $75k per year. (http://cornellsun.com/node/26757). As a hypothetical example, parents who make $50k per year are expected to contribute $5000 per year. The student is expected to contribute $2000 and have a work-study paying $1800 per year. The student takes on no loans, gets $39,000 in grants per year, and graduates debt-free. (http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan08/finAid.html)
Well I may have mistyped, but the "since" part of the statement dates back to the summer of '07 when we started hearing about the great moves in university portfolios due to alternative asset classes like VCPE and timber. Clearly that has changed a little bit.
This is a very frustrating statement. First, unless I'm missing something, endowments aren't showing "spectacular gains" as of late. Additionally, Ivy League schools are doling out financial aid to at-need students. For example, Harvard has "no expected parent contribution" for students whose parents make less than $60k per year. (http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/hfai...). Cornell has replaced any offered loans with grants for students whose parents make less than $75k per year. (http://cornellsun.com/node/26757). As a hypothetical example, parents who make $50k per year are expected to contribute $5000 per year. The student is expected to contribute $2000 and have a work-study paying $1800 per year. The student takes on no loans, gets $39,000 in grants per year, and graduates debt-free. (http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan08/finAid.html)