Harvard seeking spending cuts to weather downturn

Hey, headline genius, did you go to Harvard? My wild guess is that you mean to write 'downturn,' not 'downtown.'

Tracy, Tracy, Tracy...who is proofreading your work. Don't you mean downturn instead of downtown?

Harvard has the largest endowment in the world and they are going to have to lay off workers? Yeah, right....

How soon can they close up shop? Maybe alum Obama can work out some kind of bailout for them...

Just another example of a Rich university being cheap.......
37 BILLION dollars in endowment, please, try spending some

I recently read that Gov. Patrick wants Harvard (a tax-exempt, non-profit) to pay taxes on capital gains from shorting the market. Hmmm...I wonder if there might be a connection?

"difference pace" ??? or different pace???

What happened to their $37 billion endowment?

I run a 1 million dollar non-profit that provides important literacy services to young children who are struggling to read. I have had to reduce staff hours, cut every single line item, and have to lay-off staff. I lose sleep every nigh about the effect this economy is having on the people we serve. It is very painful. The fact that Harvard is sittting on a $36 billion endowment , calls itself a non-profit, pays little or no taxes on its premier real estate, and last month received a $100 million gift from yet another well-heeled alum makes me feel a bit ill. I can't believe you chose to write about it.

Hey bostonguy et al... the endowment is not cash in hand. It's earmarked, invested principle that the university would actually have to go to court for permission to distribute differently. Annual interest and earnings from this endwment are used to support programs, scholarships, operating costs, salaries, etc. This holds true for any endowed funds at any institution, educaitonal or otherwise.

Hmmmm - - what about the parents who earn $181,000 per year - - guess one of them will have to quit their job to qualify for the 10% tuition payment. How sad.

marythefith ... while I agree with you ... F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote; the difference between East Egg, and West Egg is $$$$; the have's and have not's. Life is not fair, and if Black Americans presume Barack Obama is going to be the black messiah; they may have to wait awhile inTracy's downturn!

If Harvard is in financial trouble I think the residents of MA should pony up. After all, this is the state that loves to pay taxes. Let's have a Harvard tax on top of the Sales tax. Who cares if it is not a public institution...it is a world renowned University and deserves your hard earned dollars. If we can bail out Wall Street, we can certainly help out Harvard. 36 billion sounds like alot...but you'd be surprised what it costs to keep a school chock-full of granola crunching Professors. Now..I know what you're thinking...if we help out Harvard we'll have to help other schools. No..we don't. We only need to help the best and brightest...who cares about Boston College?

Um, just like with any other situation, if you spend down the endowment you're eating seed corn. Trimming costs is necessary for all institutions, why wouldn't this one be the same?

Drew, we're crying crocodile tears for you and your $36B endowment. With that kind of cash, Harvard should be tuition free for anyone that gets in, regardless of income level. You live in a make believe world behind your ivy covered walls, I see no reason now to peek over them into the scary real world.

Harvard should bailout one of the banks that is being headed by one of their alumni. Of course they will be asking alumnus Obama for a bailout.

Is it time to file Chapter 11 ?

Harvard is, and will continue to be, very well off. It should be more accurately described as a business than a non-profit.

When Mrs. Obama trashes Wall Strret as greedy she need only look to the angels in higher education to find additional horror. These University Presidents have no clue as to what is going on outside the the "Ivy Bubble". I dare the Boston Globe to follow up on this story and watch and see what "greater financial restrain" turns into.

Robb - After reading this article,you are not alone.....................Ed

Story is a joke. Where are the numbers? How are there costs higher opposed to revenue? Ernollment gone down? Tuition prices gone down due to demand? How aren't they able to meet their expenses? Media is useless. I expect this out of the Herald but the Globe is supposed to be better. Harvard gives you a story and you run it without any investigative reporting. Just print the headline next time and don't waste ink or paper on the "story".

I have been an employee at Harvard since 2002. I work full time and make about 40k a year. I love my job and where I work. I hope my job is safe. This article scared me just a bit -- and that's not including the typographical errors.

Unimpressive story...I agree with Michael Ack. This reads like something out of the Harvard public relations office. Why wouldn't a reporter ask about specific cuts, or the obvious question about endowment? You report about Dartmouth's loss of endowment but never mention Harvard's loss.

Last week the Globe reported cuts in employment within its own company, but that the newsroom was spared. From the quality of news content in this paper, I'm beginning to wonder. I think I could do better reporting using only the Internet for my sources.

YGBFKM. Do you know how much the investment crew gets paid? If you trim those commissions you might be able to start another college across the river instead of whimpering about a subject almost no one in the real world has any sympathy for.

I agree that this is an unimpressive story. This is a regurgitation of an email that Harvard President Faust sent to all faculty, staff, and students, and not so much a "news" piece with any investigative details.

Thanks Katydid. I'm glad to know someone has a clue. the rest of you need to learn about finance before shooting your collective mouth off.

Hey Boston - Your employer is the wealthiest private college in the WORLD, they can afford to keep you. Absolutely ridiculous! Makes me think of those 2 guys from Trading Places, Randolph/Mortimer Duke - cheap to a fault.

May we ask President Larry Summers to manage Harvard endowment fund ?

As one of the state's largest employers Harvard immediately saw the economic crisis as an opportunity to hit the layoff panic button. I see some kind of extortion ahead where the university wrangles an agreement from the state to maintain their tax-free status for decades to come. When times are hard, Harvard always moves quickly to take advantage.

For everyone that responded with "Harvard has a $36 billion dollar endowment, why are they upset", you have not done your homework. Yes, Harvard is the richest University in the country. However, Harvard operates in silos. I have worked at Harvard for several years and BOTH groups I worked with are SELF SUSTAINING. Meaning, if we were not able to meet our fundraising targets from alums or by other means, we would lose our jobs. There were times that we had hiring freezes, or we would not be able to make significant improvements. So,again, please do your homework. Much of that money is earmarked for specific projects.

the gazillion dollar endowment people want to save money? they should be leading the economic recovery by helping create jobs. they could keep everyone in this area employed through the next decade and we'd never have to suffer the depression. but, of course, they must "save." yeah, keep all your money to yourselves, fat cats. that's cool. turn your back, close your blinds and don't look outside.

Now hold on there--move along, there's nothing to see. This is Massachusetts, we have universities and hospitals. We're immune to an economic downturn.

Hi Everyone,

Indications of cutbacks and spending freezes going on in the university sector. Food for thought for how it' will affect our market.

How ironic. On Sunday, the Globe reported on the efforts to recruit Chinese students for a free ride at Harvard. It really got me worked up. Where are their priorities? What an arrogant policy.....as if they couldn't find the best and brightest math and science students in this country. And some might even be willing to pay some tuition. The only sane quote from the whole article came from Professor Lewis..."We get tax exemptions not so we can help build ther economy of China, but so we can help contribute to the economy of the United States."

For those of you who missed the point entirely, this is an article about Harvard crying poor. And just a reminder to the feeble-minded few that think this is a gleeful Boston bashing moment -- Harvard is in Cambridge.

Lets skip the Sympathy Waltz for this one -- it barely rates a serious mention. Are we really supposed to believe that a 350 year old major Ivy League university is just scraping by and using this year’s tuition to cover the light bill? They have no assets or funds in the background; they're barely getting along, right? This is the same university that owns many multi-million dollar homes around Cambridge and lets tenured professors live in them for free. This is the same university that occasionally comes under fire for the end- uses of billion dollar investments in foreign countries.

Economics 101: on paper Harvard lists current expenses with current income, just basic this year’s income vs. outgo. But they’re not going to willingly tell us about the hundreds of million of dollars in the background. We’re not going to hear about accounts that aren’t intended to pay current expenses -- they don’t count. Not germane to the situation, old man! Apples and oranges here… So before we pass the hat for Drew Faust and start handing out Food Stamp applications to undergrads, let’s let Hah-vud cash in a few Treasury Notes and solve their own theoretical problem.

I've worked for Harvard for a few years. They've already cut all the budgets by around 22%, but that hasn't stopped them from hiring more upper management and consultants at $200K a year that we don't need and make things more difficult for the real workers to, you know, actually get work done. Harvard rewards people who generate red tape. Heavily.

Hmm... let's see. They could generate funds by selling the small countries they own back to the people. Just a thought. Or they could sell the 1/2 of Cambridge/Boston that they own - the property could be used for affordable housing for people who lose their jobs.

BTW, the following post from "Web Smith" is probably the best idea I've heard in a decade.
"Harvard should bailout one of the banks that is being headed by one of their alumni. Of course they will be asking alumnus Obama for a bailout."

Simply no one has sympathy for you, Drew. Issuing that press release was just asking to be laughed at - and yes, I do know that I ended with a preposition. Darn. My kid probably won't get in now.