LETTER: Harvard on the dole
Your April 5 article “$2.2B in Harvard grants frozen” left me confused. In looking at easily available information, it is obvious that the university is doing quite well on it’s own. Harvard has more than $52 billion in endowments. At a 5 percent rate of return — which has been available in safe investments such as U.S. treasuries or CDs — that amount of money would return about $200 million per month. About 25,000 students are enrolled annually at the school, at an average cost (tuition, room and board, etc.) of about $70,000 per year. That brings in another $150 million per month.
How does a school with an income of $350 million per month need even one penny from the U.S. government?
