Harvard's endowment is $26 billion dollars...

[battle.borne]

I'm sorry but that is just disgusting.

[wolf_chatter]

I'm sorry but that is just disgusting.

Its one of the oldest and certainly the most prestigious university in the US.

[backsthepack]

I could have sworn TMQ had said it was at least 10 billion higher last year or the year before.

[battle.borne]

Its one of the oldest and certainly the most prestigious university in the US.

I just it find it amazing that any University has that much money from which to draw from. Wereas our tiny little University has been around for over 100 years and has yet to break the 1/2 billion dollar barrier. I'm jealous of their generous alumni base to be perfectly blunt.

[Blueblood]

Its one of the oldest and certainly the most prestigious university in the US.

That, and Ivy League endowment funds have seen some outrageous returns over the years. I remember reading an article about Yale earning something like a 20% annualized return over a 10 year period. Although they've posted similar losses the last few years as well.

[wolf_chatter]

I just it find it amazing that any University has that much money from which to draw from. Wereas our tiny little University has been around for over 100 years and has yet to break the 1/2 billion dollar barrier. I'm jealous of their generous alumni base to be perfectly blunt.

Lets ask! With the amount of politicians coming out of there! No wonder they have so much cash!

[chriswebb86]

I just it find it amazing that any University has that much money from which to draw from. Wereas our tiny little University has been around for over 100 years and has yet to break the 1/2 billion dollar barrier. I'm jealous of their generous alumni base to be perfectly blunt.

Besides the fact that a lot of the alumni from Harvard probably have really high paying jobs, I am guessing a lot of their Alumni have had a great experience at the university.

[battle.borne]

Besides the fact that a lot of the alumni from Harvard probably have really high paying jobs, I am guessing a lot of their Alumni have had a great experience at the university.

Harvard gets plenty from alumni but I would speculate the majority of the big money donations come from Publicly Traded companies trying to influence politicians etc. That's how the game is played and since Harvard has a knack for their alumni becoming politicians who eventually becoming President, they get more than their fare share of corporate gifts I'm sure.

[Nevadan]

I think it peaked at something like $37B under Mohamed a El-Erian's (http://www.pimco.com/LeftNav/Bios/Mohamed+A+El-Erian.htm) two years of leadership of Harvard Management Corp., before he went back to lead PIMCO. Their endowment grew by almost $6B in '07. Look at the donations for the last two years.......those who have money on this level, still have money and money to give.....

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/files/2009/09/harvard.jpg

...and while looking around for the linked graph, I came across this totally ***elated picture that I couldn't help but pass along for the sheer......errrr....uuummmm....errr...absurdity of it:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1896/weddingdress.jpg

[NMpackalum]

I've also read that Harvard, Stanford et al don't actually have to charge students any tuition and still not dent the interest on their endowment. Other prestigious colleges like Williams and Amherst have such large endowments that their average student debt after 4 yrs is about 12k and not need dependent aid.

[ord_buckeye]

I'm sorry but that is just disgusting.

So what. Their alumni have chosen to support their university to that degree, and the school has managed the money wisely. What's so disgusting about it?

[coachlennyd]

Plus they receive hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money also.
The rich get richer

[battle.borne]

So what. Their alumni have chosen to support their university to that degree, and the school has managed the money wisely. What's so disgusting about it?

Like I said, I'm jealous