> So, how did the endowments fare? Pitchbook reports that the 50 largest university endowments saw an annual return of 8.3 percent over the past 10 years. And how did a plain vanilla 60-40 Vanguard mutual fund (60 percent stocks, 40 percent bonds) do? It returned 8.38 percent over the same period without the added risk of speculative investments in risky private assets.
> Let that sink in. Endowment funds got no extra payoff for investing in private equity funds or other private assets.
> The lesson? US endowment funds could have made the same return by joining with millions of ordinary people and investing in a plain vanilla mutual fund.
As all eight Ivy Leagues collectively received this amount in funding in 2024, it would appear that Yale is planning for a longer-term drought.
Aside, I tried to copy the title to search for context about this elsewhere:
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Well, that's... something. No ma'am, I don't think I will.
For what? The government provides research grants on the topics the government wants to approve research, not the primary funding for a private university. Why would any of it be returned to taxpayers? Either you have never tried to understand or you are being intentionally naive, and either one is sad.
Federal funding for universities is not "free cash for universities to subsidize students."
When people talk about federal funding we are talking about research funding. The NSF decides that they want to fund research on topic X for reason Y. They put a call for grant applications. Labs submit grant applications and the NSF chooses the ones they think are most valuable. Those labs get money to pay for faculty and grad student salaries and lab equipment. The labs perform the research and publish it for the broader societal good.
Trump really does seem like an Israeli first president. Soon enough the only people his administration will be deporting are students critical of Israel
Seems like that might be close to 25% of their alt investments. This sounds rather serious.
> the endowment’s value increased to $41.4 billion on June 30, 2024, up from $40.7 billion on June 30, 2023
https://news.yale.edu/2024/10/25/yale-reports-investment-ret...
> Yale’s investment strategy depends heavily on alternative investments. As of 2019, they made up about 60 percent of Yale’s portfolio.
https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2022/10/24/yales-endowment-ex...
Probably for the best, it’s a mediocre asset class considering the risk adjusted returns and illiquidity.
https://cepr.net/publications/private-equity-university-endo...
https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/pitchbooks-university-en...
> So, how did the endowments fare? Pitchbook reports that the 50 largest university endowments saw an annual return of 8.3 percent over the past 10 years. And how did a plain vanilla 60-40 Vanguard mutual fund (60 percent stocks, 40 percent bonds) do? It returned 8.38 percent over the same period without the added risk of speculative investments in risky private assets.
> Let that sink in. Endowment funds got no extra payoff for investing in private equity funds or other private assets.
> The lesson? US endowment funds could have made the same return by joining with millions of ordinary people and investing in a plain vanilla mutual fund.
That 8.3% return on the 60/40 includes a ludicrous investment in 0% bonds....
As all eight Ivy Leagues collectively received this amount in funding in 2024, it would appear that Yale is planning for a longer-term drought.
Aside, I tried to copy the title to search for context about this elsewhere:
>> To be able to copy & paste content to share with others please contact us at subscriptions@pei.group to upgrade your subscription to the appropriate licence
Well, that's... something. No ma'am, I don't think I will.
Really that money should be going to any student from Yale with a student loan balance.
No, students should pay for their own life choices. That money should be returned to taxpayers.
For what? The government provides research grants on the topics the government wants to approve research, not the primary funding for a private university. Why would any of it be returned to taxpayers? Either you have never tried to understand or you are being intentionally naive, and either one is sad.
Friction-free viewing link: https://archive.ph/l8Zqz
[flagged]
PE = private equity?
Yes
I don’t know much about this stuff, so probably a silly question. Why the heck would Yale or Harvard need so much federal funding?
For how much students pay and how many wealthy donors they have, why are tax payers funding Yale?
This is probably one of the rare times I support a funding cut.
> I don’t know much about this stuff, so probably a silly question. Why the heck would Yale or Harvard need so much federal funding?
All universities are research institutions and the funding at issue are research grants.
> For how much students pay and how many wealthy donors they have, why are tax payers funding Yale?
Students pay basically for the costs associated with having students at the university, but that's not the primary function of the university.
> This is probably one of the rare times I support a funding cut.
Yeah, I mean, if you qant to slit the throat of progress in all fields of science, that makes a lot of sense.
Federal funding for universities is not "free cash for universities to subsidize students."
When people talk about federal funding we are talking about research funding. The NSF decides that they want to fund research on topic X for reason Y. They put a call for grant applications. Labs submit grant applications and the NSF chooses the ones they think are most valuable. Those labs get money to pay for faculty and grad student salaries and lab equipment. The labs perform the research and publish it for the broader societal good.
It does seem egregious, especially considering the elite status of the institutions ( with ‘legacy’ admissions to hand down the privilege. )
Making blue collar workers pay taxes to fund elite education for nepotism-babies seems like something bad.
Seems like they have enough money for anything.
Trump really does seem like an Israeli first president. Soon enough the only people his administration will be deporting are students critical of Israel