Researchers criticize Ivy League endowments in op-ed for the Wall Street Journal
In an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, Manhattan Institute senior fellow James Piereson and Independent Women’s Forum senior fellow Naomi Riley criticized the endowments of Ivy League schools and the funding they have received from the United States government.
According to the two researchers, the eight Ivy League schools “received some $30 billion of taxpayer contracts, grants, direct payments, student assistance and tax exemption [between 2010 and 2014]. In other words, federal cash and subsidies over that time averaged nearly $102,000 per student each year.”
The two propose that Congress pass a law that schools with endowments above a certain level “keep tuition below the rate of inflation, or lose access to federal loans, scholarships and research programs.” In March 2016, Connecticut state legislators argued for a similar tax to be levied on Yale.
In October, Penn announced a record endowment even though its investment division posted a loss.
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