Harvard's endowment plunges $8 billion

Aww, too bad. Cry me a river.

"The world's wealthiest university" says it all, but don't worry they'll get a bailout from W before he leaves office.

Good! I hope they sink.

Oh Poor Harvard. They only have 29 biillion Tax Free dollars.

Whats the big deal everyone else is down 42%

ouch

Just think if the state taxed these endowments. We might be better off.

Setting the actual magnitude of the loss aside, they've actually done quite well considering the major indices have plunged upwards of 30% or more.

A loss of $8 billion for this fund, given the brainpower they supposedly had running it, it pretty pathetic. Why they weren't taking more substantial positions in cash at the end of 2007 (ie: preserve capital, take profits, sell Apple at 200, etc.), when plenty of warning signs in the press in the summer 2007 (ie: Bear Streans hedge fund implosions, subprime meltdown, etc.) were pointing to a recession in 2008. Think of the repercussions, in terms of job losses at the school, diminished funding opportunities to students or researchers, because of the bone headed management of their endowment fund. Not the brightest bulbs in the box at Harvard.

36.9 Billion to 28.7 billion. Boo hoo.

Sounds like the accountants are playing a shell game with the IRS to provide larger tax breaks for their rich client. Harvard is just another corporation looking to hide as much of their assets as possible from taxation. The money is still there, its just not as easy to find after some quick paperwork.

Harvard and other schools have been stealing from the Government and
others for a long time in the name of "education". It's not by accident that most of the great innovators of our time did not go to Harvard or dropped out - they could have gone anywhere. With Harvard's endowment they should be providing free tuition to all the bright students they attract because of their prestige ( not superior quality of education).

Interesting, I'd be happy to have 8 billion to lose. o well, they'll get 25 billion from Bush, by 1/20/2009.

Since most of their alumni have created this mess it only seems fair.

If they'd tuned in to Art Bell on non-UFO nights once in a while they'd be down a whole lot less.

Who cares-i am tired of the of the Pompous attitude of the Ivy league controlling the World anyway...Let them all go to a state funded institution.Maybe Obama will shed a tear for them.

I think its healthy. We have seen how concentration of wealth has been a contributing factor to the decline of America and the average American's standard of living.

Lets hope for the day when Harvard pays taxes and distributes its wealth to the communities it sucks life out of every day.

I'm sorry...I thought Harvard was full of geniuses who could share insight on how to build a better, sustainable and fair economy, not whine about their stupid historic losses. You want to see a historic loss -- look at my checkbook and count your blessings.

Hey Tom , they'll be knocking at your door shortly so you better get down to the ATM and withdraw some loose change !!! Hei Yu

How is it possible that this could happen at Harvard? It has this stellar Economics Department and of course there is the Harvard Business School across the river. Could it be that Harvard has trained most of the crooks, felons, and incompetents that have led the country and the world financial system into this mess? There is some poetic justice in this. If there were fairness or justice in this world, half of the Harvard Business School faculty would be in jail.

LOL. I think it's funny. Glad to see the wealthy feeling some pain.

Duhh, they'll just raise tuition. Ohh yeah an office manager who works where Harvard manages their assets at the Fed makes over $100K, he orders supplies, such as light bulbs and TP.

It is kind of a problem, actually. Harvard is one of the state's largest employers. They won't cut money from financial aid or student services, but they'll lay off staff or cut salaries (which aren't all that hot to begin with).

And, like with all the financial meltdowns happening, big and small, the results are felt everywhere.

So Miggie, if they "sink" what do you suggest the thousands of Harvard employees do? There are a lot more people in the Harvard community than professors and students.

#5 - exactly...22% is actually pretty good in this environment. For the rest of you...why would you be happy at that? Do you think that is good?

I would blame it on the fact they wanted to be cheap and not pay the Harvard Mgmt Office to keep their superstars from running the endowment. You get what you pay for in personnel. They should consider firing the person who runs the endowment. An endowment should not suffer this much of a loss, as the goal of managing an endowment should be more capital preservation.

Preservation of capital apparently did not rank high among the objectives of the endowment. Investing in hedge and private equity funds was not the wisest strategy amidst the huge imbalances developing in the economy. These types of funds are largely black boxes with artificially high price mark-ups. What is the main similarity between the Harvard endowment and Citibank? Answer: Bob Rubin!

The problem is that Harvard represents more than the undergraduates and grad students who go there--peoples' jobs are at stake! Does no one understand that Harvard cannot touch the principal of an endowent? If the interest disappears, so does the revenue to pay their employees!

Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The bailout--as in: "let's bail out of Cambridge"--will come from Obama who will give all his Harvard pals cushy Washington jobs. L. Summers is just the tip of the iceberg but, hey, CHANGE back to the Clinton administration is good.

If Harvard only loses 30 percent by the end of the year, as Faust is warning, then they'll be fortunate. My best performing mutual fund has lost approximately 35 percent from a year ago. We're basically at late eighties/early nineties levels again. It's back to the future!

My heart is bleeding that the filthy rich institute that is Harvard doesn't
have quite as many BILLIONS of dollars that they don't pay taxes on.

Hoping Harvard sinks is a very neighborly thing to say. They are a very large employer and this could mean that lots of your friends/neighbors will be losing their jobs...

Yes it's true it is down 22% but what they don't say is that they expected it to be down 28% and because they did better than expected they will be able to give themselves a bonus....:-)

these remarks just show how incredibly stupid the American public is. My seminary president - Princeton seminary, I might add - said "anti-intellectualism" is the bane of America." We fail to see the intrinsic value of knowledge.
M Renauf, Harvard class of 1974

Harvard is not only wealthiest university, its is also consistently ranked as the best in the world and it is undoubtedly one of the most generous. It is a credit to our state that we have it here. What possible good would it "sinking" do, Miggie?

I hope Harvard can pull through this without losing the generous financial aid and the world-class research and teaching that makes it such an asset to everyone, whether they are Harvard students or not.

their endowment is so large that THEY could pay everyone's tuition for the next 15-20 years with it! Give money to the smaller schools that need the help!!

I am guessing none of you could get in....

Why all the snarky comments?

Local colleges and universities are a very important part of the regional economy, and Harvard (probably Yale too) are the benchmarks for endowment management. If they're in trouble, we're all in trouble.

BTW, they're tax free for a reason. Do you think that taxing universities will make tuition any cheaper?

Well, as someone who works there, I *will* be crying you a river if I get laid off. Hopefully they'll make cuts elsewhere before doing that.

It's not surprising; it's just another indicator of tough economic times. I suppose the fact that it's down only 22 percent is the reason we pay those fund managers such seemingly ridiculous salaries.

Does this mean tuition is going up?

you guys are a bunch of haters. Miggie, that is one of the most moronic comments i've ever heard....

How much have the endowment gaied in the last 6 years

"...but don't worry they'll get a bailout from W before he leaves office."
W was a Yalie! He'll probably watch Harvard sink.

Universities are irrelevant. Bastions of groupthink. They have lost the ability to generate independent, skeptical minds.

That's it ... my kids are going to U Mass Boston!!

That's just the decline between end-of-June-08 to end-of-October-08. The market declined 24 percent during this same period, which means that Harvard is taking a lot of risk with their endowment money. Maybe their investment minds weren't that bright, after all.

They are only reporting the quarterly loss, by the end of the year, I suspect the yearly loss will be around 50 percent.

A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it's real losses.

Would hardly a commuter school like Boston University in the same sentence as Dartmouth, MIT, Harvard

I tried to feel badly. Really. I did.

The fact they still have non-profit status is the real tragedy.

man I dont like rich people sometimes!

Is that the school near Lesley College?

The student body got exactly what they wanted! After they complaigned year after year about the compensation of the highly skilled investment staff at Hardvard Investments they finally got them to leave. Get used to it because without them you're going to be losing money for many years to come. You made your bed, now sleep in it and pay up!

I'm in no way, shape or form linked with Harvard but it seems from a couple of the comments above that some people have a bee in their bonnet about the University - are those people just bitter that they didn't make the grade to go there?? I didn't get the sense that the school is whining about their losses from this article but rather are simply letting people know within the organization what the current state of affairs looks like. There's something very un-American about having a go at those people and organizations that have been successful. If Harvard have managed to amass this amount of wealth over the decades, then I say, Fair play to them! I'm sure they'll be just fine in the future!

Boston and the surrounding area depend on big schools like Harvard--do you know how many jobs are there??? Everyone should be concerned, not just the students.

boo hoo.

Harvard does not pay taxes, but they DO make huge payments to the City of Cambridge (in the millions), which helps pay for police, street improvements, etc. for EVERYONE in that city. The employees all pay taxes, many use public transportation, buy goods and services in the surrounding area (as do the students). Many students get substantial financial aid. People should dig a little deeper to find out how these large universities contribute to the local economy. What do you think would happen if M.I.T. and Harvard folded? Yes, I work there, and have for years. Harvard has a fiscal policy of 'every tub on its own bottom," each school has to be self-sufficient, including the schools of education and divinity.education and

I understand that you guys see Harvard as the evil empire, but remember that Harvard has filled its classrooms with people who worked their butts off to get here (not just the children of privilege).

As one of those students, I can tell you that there is a lot of anxiety about our financial aid packages, without which most of us can't afford to be here.

Jules, aside from being a Yalie, W is a graduate of Harvard Business School. Tough times all around. I can't believe anyone being happy about this.

It's too bad there are such negative comments from so many ignorant people. Harvard uses much of their endowments to help students financially with their tuition. I'm not sure if it still is, but Harvard was rated one of the top colleges for least amount of student debt upon graduation. I wish other colleges helped their students out financially as much as Harvard does.

jd36: That might have something to do with the fact that Harvard isn't a for-profit venture.

Harvard is one of the state's biggest employers. That big pile of cash they sit on is there so they don't have to rely on anyone else to support their educational mission. They can hire staff and build facilities without going into debt. They won't have to ask for a "bailout".

Those of you criticizing Harvard don't understand a simple concept: without Harvard and MIT (and the hospitals and companies that have sprung from them) Boston would at best resemble Baltimore, at worst Detroit.

That said, the highly leveraged nature of parts of the endowment is starting to have an effect on the downside.

How do you like 'dem apples.

There is nothing good about universities losing money, because that means less jobs for ALL income levels, less grants for students, less access for the general public to librairies and museums. Harvard is also one of the largest landlords in Boston, so higher rents and less money for upkeep of the properties. This news being bad has nothing to do with rich people v. poor people. It's the economy, stupid.

Massachusetts has universities and hospitals. They are engines of economic growth that inoculate us against any economic catastrophe. Overseas royalty demand to be CareFlighted from all four corners of the globe to the Brigham, and to the Genera..., to MGH.

Because we have universities, our economy is recession proof. Since everyone wants to be educated higher, they will never have budget cuts or see endowment declines. Because the endowments are put into investments, and investments by definition only go up in value. Home prices only go up because everybody has to live in a home, and they's ain't making any more land.

If your kids actually do their homework instead of goofing off with the TV, PlayStation and drugs they might get into Harvard. When they do, Harvard gives you a better financial aid package than Bulger's UMass, or most anywhere else for that matter. For family making $50K it costs less out of pocket to send the kids to Harvard than to a state college. I think their education might be a bit better as well.
Whatever it is that they spend billions a year to run (probably everything except the undergrad college), much of it goes out in salaries. It's not such a great thing if they have to cut staff. Sure it's an arrogant institution, but it's also a great asset.

Isn't an endowment like retained earnings and when Microsoft invests their retained earnings don't they pay taxes on them? Why can't a company (college) who hasn't paid property taxes for 200 years, paid off the buildings 200 years ago, and has thousands of students paying $50K per year cover operating expenses!! How do college costs keep escalating at 6% a year vs. 3% inflation when there are few costs. I say tax the property (nominally) and tax endowment gains and let the tuition cover expenses...

What clowns! This is not a good sign for anyone. Harvard employs thousands of local residents who could possibly be laid off in the near future. Sounds good huh!
The people that have commented to this article should look to their neighbors, friends and family because they too may be facing the same outcome as Harvard U and their employees!!!
How does that sound?

These comments are what are wrong with this country. Jealousy is a terrible virtue. You want Harvard to sink??? Why?? I just don’t understand the mindset of people like miggie.

Harvard is the largest employer in the city of Cambridge; MIT is somewhere in the top five. Serious declines in their endowment likely mean that many people are going to lose their jobs; the lucky ones get to go wtithout raises. And these salaries on the whole are not particularly generous. For the nitwits who comment on the sheer size of the endowment that remains, remember that running Harvard is akin to running a small city.

I used to work at Harvard, Terrible place. I'm happy they lost money.

The Harvard faculty had a well-publicized dispute with the Harvard endowment managers concerning compensation. After years of high returns, Jack Meyer and his team left to form a hedge fund. Mohamed El-Erian left to head PIMCO. Both had considerable experience and impressive resumes. It may be tough for the new manager to explain these initial results, considering her previous experience was managing an endowment 4% the size of Harvard's. The current economic climate shouldn't be blamed for the entire loss, considering the severity and size of the portfolio. Sometimes, you get what you pay for. I hope they turn things around!

The people above remind me of the Harvard people who drove out the good money managers because they were "paid too much". Really intelligent analysis in both cases.

I'm often struck by how bi-modally apparent intelligence is distributed in Massachusetts.

And Harvard still seems to be doing better than average. I'm really looking forward to see how Swensen did.

For you Harvardians, that smug and condescending attitude that some of you display in your posts - that is probably the reason for all the anti-Harvard posts... Just a thought...

Harvard offers full financial scholarships to any student that needs it, educates some our country's brightest young talent, employes vast numbers of people in Massachusetts, funds medical research to cure disease at the highest level and generally serves as a beacon of pride for America around the world. Of course others are in greater finalcial crisis right now but why would you be happy to see a University like that suffer? Sounds ignorant and unpatriotic.

It's just funny that when things (endowment-wise) were going well, Harvard said "look at us, we're the wealthiest university" ... and now that the tide has turned it's "poor us, look at how much we lost". I'll bet 99% of the universities in the country are in the same boat.

Hey # 16.

Instead of hoping Harvard gets their BILLIONS of dollars back so you dont lose your job, how about you stop commenting on a Boston.com board and get to work.

Think that might help?

Like the first post said, cry me a river.

No, you guys are right, let's sink the school that is doing groundbreaking research on everything from curing cancer to discovering life in space. That would do a lot of good for everyone. Get over the fact that a great institution like Harvard makes you feel inadequate and realize that you shouldn't wish economic downfall on anyone, let alone an institution that is doing so much good in this world.

Some of you are mocking the loss of Harvard's endowment but what few of you realize is that it's affecting the payout to staff members who make a modest income.

Michael Renauf - no one is saying education isn't necessary. The American government says that by not providing education to the masses. Even state schools are too expensive now. Other developed countries believe an educated population is important because they offer free education like they do health care, but the US apparently doesn't agree. It's easier to brainwash an uneducated population.

But Harvard is the worst offender; it is an exclusive institution that most Americans, with our below standard education system, will never experience. That's why they're going to China to find students who qualify.

People are angry because of its elite snubbing of their nose status, its billions of dollars of an endowment that is rarely used for those who really need it-students. Not to mention the extremely large footprint it possesses in plum real estate and yet it doesn’t have to pay taxes. Bottom line is, it does not contribute to the community, only to a small percentage or “class.” That's the source of the anger.

And x - It may employ people in the area, but that's bound to change considerably. Because for Harvard, its endowment and its own health is far more important than educating the masses and providing employment, so the axe will be falling soon, and tuition will be going up yet again.

This is not an entity that garners too much sympathy from many. Perhaps if it changed its ways and became more inclusive, actually believed in education, especially in an educated population, I do believe people would feel differently.

I only wish people understood what an endowment really is... You can't just spend endowment funds freely. Many endowments are restricted, and Harvard has over 10,000 endowments, from endowed Professorships to endowed Scholarships. This is donated money, a small portion of which is allocated to be spent one year, and the rest reinvested to not only build the endowment but to make it last longer and protect it as much as possible from recession. Endowmed funds don't just come from the raping and pillaging of people and towns. So the fact that the endowment has lost so much does not mean that they will be spending less... Something tells me Harvard knows what it is doing with the money that is donated to it. (22% investment loss is minimal compared to other investment losses - how much have you lost on your 401K?)

Ok, I totally get all the sarcastic comments.
But just a reminder Harvard University employs thousands of people.
So this is not good news at all and not something to be taken lightly.

how are they NOT nonprofit? Any increase in Harvard's endowment goes to either financial aid to allow less wealthy people to attend or to research that improves the state of human scientific and cultural knowledge and makes America a better place to live. Harvard also pays its staff employees (dining hall workers, janitors, security guards, etc) better than the vast majority of other organizations... No individual owns Harvard and nobody gets to keep Harvard's money as spending money. Harvard having more money is a plus, not a minus, and as an institution makes this country better. To say otherwise is just a mixture of jealousy, anti-intellectualism and stupidity.

Y

#23....they were up through June, down 22% since. Are you predicting the investment returns of all asset classes between Nov 1 and Dec 31?? If so, please give us the details. And they've made a lot more money over the years than most others, so my guess is that they are fairly bright...obviously that pains you for some reason...

If Harvard "sinks" Cambridge and the surrounding cities would become the armpits they really are. No one feels bad for Harvard, but lets not be moronic and wish more people to loose their jobs.

So what? They never really do anything with this money anyway. The tax free status of these huge endowments should be capped at some level. I can't understand why anyone, including a Harvard alum, would give this school a penny when there are so many worthwhile organizations in need of charitable donations.

There are a couple of tragedies here. One is that if Harvard's well-managed endowment has lost so much, that means our economic environment is in very bad shape. The other is the utter ignorance of the buffoons here who actually see this disaster as a good thing. I have no connection with Harvard, but I do have a connection with my brain.

How can this be ? The endowment is managed by Harvard's best and brightest and like all Harvard students, they graduated with honors

Mary, class of '82 please explain to us mere mortals how the masters of the universe from the best families managed to lose US$ 8 Billion.

While the bubble was expanding, the managers of university endowments looked like geniuses. At least that was the rationale for their exorbitant compensation packages. Now that the bubble has burst, they don't look so smart. Endowment money played a significant part in inflating the bubble, so they deserve to take their lumps. Time for managers who have a fiduciary responsibility for investing other people's money to leave the casino, and return to the basics of investing 101.

I understand the sarcastic comments.
But remember that Harvard University employs thousands of people.
This is a serious issue and shouldn't be taken lightly.

Most of those "losses" are unrealized due to technical pressures in mark-to-market pricing across most asset classes, especially bank loans, most fixed income securities and converts. Endowments have a much longer time horizon than most and are not forced to sell into bad markets. They will be just fine. Unfortunately for them, they were not quick enough in addressing their liquidity concerns which has kept them from doing what they would have liked to in these markets.

The only tragedy is that the Harvard endowment isn't down 100%.

Harvard is the third largest employer in the Commonwealth and has an over $2 billion annual affect on the economies of Boston and Cambridge. To say this is a good thing, regardless of the university's not-for-profit standing, is almost too ignorant to garner a response. Almost.

I took the GRE in a lecture hall at Sterling Chem. Lab at Yale (after 1974) and noticed huge water spots from leaks in the ceiling and the room was pitch dark. All probably to cover the dust and aging of the room. Science is Progess? I just hope Harvard isn't going to go the way of Yale now that THEY'RE broke. They'll have to recruit more Ph.D.s from Ind., who'll be so arrogant and incoherent you'll want to go to UB.

P.S. You can't take a paper GRE anymore unless you're in China!

When one puts their institution at risk when playing footsie with the hedge fund big boys, one gets what they deserve.

Massachusetts has universities and hospitals. They are engines of economic growth that inoculate us against any economic catastrophe. Overseas royalty demand to be CareFlighted from all four corners of the globe to the Brigham, and to the Genera..., to MGH.

Because we have universities, our economy is recession proof. Since everyone wants to be educated higher, they will never have budget cuts or see endowment declines. Because the endowments are put into investments, and investments by definition only go up in value. Home prices only go up because everybody has to live in a home, and they's ain't making any more land.

Boo Hoo Bluebloods!

Too bad Bush never actually paid attention when he was at Harvard B school.....

>without Harvard and MIT (and the hospitals and companies that have sprung
>from them) Boston would at best resemble Baltimore

Kind of slapping Johns Hopkins across the face there, aren't you?

Detroit may be a better analogy, however Boston was never as dependent on a single industrial sector as towns like Detroit (autos), Gary (steel), or St. Louis (railroads), or as corrupt as New Orleans.

Pop open the champagne! May the stench on the Charles lose 100%!

M. Renauf, Mary class of 82 and other harvard sukups, don't throw that 'you couldn't get in' bilge around. I was in the high 700's SAT's and disdained that elitist, navel-gazing, self-aggrandizing pig-sty. Your big mistake is to equate being anti-Harvard with anti-intellectualism. You have been pampered and complimented for so long as children, that you think you are the only ones with brains, and anyone who dissents from your groupthink, your herd of independent minds, must be an inbred goober.

Harvard, as we know, began as a Puritan/Congregational seminary. It has been all downhill from there. Original ( and still on the official seal) motto: Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae: Truth for Christ and the Church. When you eliminated the Christo et Ecclesiae, you eliminated the Veritas. Now it should be: Veritas? If you don't believe in veritas, if you are so relativistic, then how can you judge that it would be a 'good' thing that its endowment be spared? Then it became just a random hangout for intelligent (but unwise) kids to hook up and smirk. Harvard is the cesspool which has brought down Massachusetts, and pretty soon the rest of the United States. Harvard's motto should be: Smuggism: we know better than you. Makes the rest of MA and USA nauseous. Giving Ted Kennedy the same degree as George Washington and Winston Churchill--even y'all must see the buffoonery. As many say, i would rather be ruled by the first 100 names in the Boston phone directory than the faculty of Harvard U. I wish all the human beings there would vacate, and then the Charles overflow and the place be wiped out, and turned into a water park.

>To say otherwise is just a mixture of jealousy, anti-intellectualism and
>stupidity

Or could it fundamentally be questioning why non-profit status exists at all?

To argue a finer point, there are many people who believe in a progressive tax rate -- that lower income earners should pay less, higher income owners pay more.

Questioning Harvard's status as a non-profit can be viewed simply as an extension of that question. Maybe there are organizations whose control of resources is so great they should be regulated in their activities by taxes just like individuals and for-profit corporations. What is different about making a profit that singles out an organization for the burden of paying taxes? Should we apply a progressive tax system to traditionally non-profit organizations, sheltering the smaller ones from the full burden, but expecting the more successful ones to make their mandatory contributions to the public purse just like the general public?

This is a bigger issue we will confront in the future as endownments grow, there are more and more private foundations, and even local land trusts that control increasingly considerable amounts of our nation's assets. It probably won't be my generation or the next, but it will be confronted probably by the late 21st century as a major public policy issue

But hey, I must be a jealous, stupid, anti-intellectual person to actually be thinking about the long term social and tax policy implications of the rise of the modern charitable trusts both in number and size, with power far exceeding the wildest dreams of the 19th century originators of lyceums or 20th century drafters of tax codes.

Is it possible to decline beyond 100%? One could only hope, they could give all the surrounding communities, which includes the whole USA, reparation/restitution payments for all the damage that overly self-important junior college has caused. Could someone from MIT respond?

I've asked this before. Perhaps I'll get an answer this time. I recall a report that the head of the Harvard endowment fund got a 7-figure bonus last year for "good" performance. This "good" job was based on a bloated inflated market of mostly smoke and mirrors. If this guy was so smart why didn't he see this debacle coming? Now that the endowment has shrunk so dramatically shouldn't this whiz kid give most or all of this inflated bonus back?????

The worst thing about Harvard (and all the other universities in Boston) is there continued growth. As they continue to expand their real estate portfolio they also force out people/businesses that pay local real estate taxes. This puts a larger tax burden on the rest of the city. So maybe with some of their billions they can start paying taxes!

Well that's what happens when you think commodities are an asset class and you can leverage your gains using hedge funds and private equity who leverage their bets 30 times and over. To me the pronouncements last year by harvard and yale about their god like performance was the best short entry point. Don't mean to brag but some of us saw this coming. While these guys are losing lots of other guys are making like bandits. Its a zero sum game and unfortunately herd is always on the wrong side in the end.

This is bad news all around. I work at Harvard and have heard that each dept will need to make 10% cuts. This means people will lose their jobs, and students who need financial aid won't get it. so to say that this is a good thing makes no sense.

Dear WTF987,

Harvard are not exempt from local real estate taxes. Harvard and MIT contribute a significant amount (I think more than half) of Cambridge's budget.

Most other taxes, such as corporate and income, are based on net earning and not on gross revenue. As a non-profit entity, there are no earnings, and thus nothing to be taxed on. The interest that these endowment generate is used to cover operating costs, develop infrastructure, provide the most generous finacial aid packages in the country, and to invest in research.

Cheers,

Paul ALB '07

To gaudete (#84),

Wow, excellent! I got similar scores and I would like to sign my name under what you said.

I'm a University of Wisconsin - Madison neuroscience student who is applying to Harvard for grad school, of the many grad schools I'm applying to, to earn a PhD degree in neuroscience. Harvard has stellar research programs and no university should have to be egregiously injured. It needs the money it has to continue to do what it does for Boston, the United States, and the world.

It's not just the Ivy Leaguers who value Harvard. I value them as a center of research, and I would be honored if they are among the schools that accept me to their PhD program. And assholes there are likely in the minority; I doubt most of the students there were born into money; people at top schools (my university rivals Harvard in the amount of research money it brings in) most often earn their way in. I am little concerned about its status as a profit or non-profit institution; what matters to me is how good their science is, and Harvard's science is pretty good.

I hate insecure white trash who wail when their betters are better than them and who express their disgusting schadenfreude when an important contributor to knowledge suffers.

The boys of The Fernald School Science Club feel awful for Harvard, simply awful.

@ 109, I wholeheartedly agree.
@ 102, I am from MIT and I think that your comment reflects more on you than it does on Harvard. I find it terribly ironic that so many posters here whine about how arrogant and elitist, etc these institutions are, but fail to recognize that they themselves are exhibiting the very same ignorance (to much greater degree). How can you criticize if you've never experienced it? Is it jealousy? Perhaps just a stereotype? Whatever your reason may be, it does not excuse uninformed comments. Quite frankly, institutions like Harvard advance the human condition through science and research. Any hit to its endowment trickles down to everyone.

Hi, I'm a medical and graduate student at a prominent California institution. I feel that this is bad for Harvard, but probably good for education in the long run - or at least, it would be if other universities weren't hit just as hard.

You see, Harvard's endowment dominance is the primary reason it can top rankings year after year, because it enables them to purchase the best facilities and lure professors away from other universities. Harvard argues that the effect of concentrating as many good minds as possible in one place is synergistic, but I disagree - I feel that this hegemonic domination of academia tends to suppress more original ideas and opinions.

I think that it is great for Harvard to stay a competitive school, even to stay #1, as they do a lot of great research, but I would like to see the funding gap closed between Harvard and similarly over-funded institutions like Yale and other Ivies, and public universities like Wisconsin and the Universities of Texas and California. Occasionally, let's see Stanford or Berkeley or MIT or Caltech top that list. Healthy competition is good for everyone.

Those Harvard alumni who smugly state that anybody who dislikes them couldn't get in: I'm sure many Harvardians dislike you as well, as you are the very reason so many people resent Harvard as an institution. Also, this pretense is false: not only are numerical university rankings meaningless, but even using them, the "smartest" institution is actually probably Caltech, who has graduated a Nobel laureate for every 1,400 graduates and tops almost all academic rankings in the sciences per capita. Harvard smugness was part of the reason I turned Harvard Medical School down, despite having an MCAT score of 38T, versus the HMS average of ~35R.

#1 and #3, Awwww, did we get rejected by Harvard cause you weren't smart enough to get in?