This paper uses critical archival analysis, paired with textual analysis of grant descriptions, to understand how nine foundations -- all with endowments derived from the student loan industry -- have motivated their college completion work and the relationship between these commitments and grantmaking over time (2000-2019). Mobilizing concepts of…

Universities' endowment management practices have come under scrutiny by politicians and commentators who note that universities are tax-exempt, and do not want taxpayers subsidizing institutions only to have them accumulate wealth without advancing the public good. Defenders of university endowment policies argue that, to the contrary, managers…

In order to explain the rising cost of higher education, economist Howard Bowen in 1980 proposed his "famous law" of institutional finance. Bowen based his "revenue theory of cost" on a study of aggregate quantitative data extending from 1929 to 1979. Neither he nor subsequent economists asked whether or how that…

A more inclusive definition of wealth for higher education institutions that adds capitalized value of annual gifts, grants, and public appropriations to the traditional endowment-based measure is proposed. It is found that, when the definition of wealth includes these nonendowment sources, public higher education institutions dominate in…

From 1989 to 1995 the market value of private colleges' endowments grew sharply. This study offers a perspective on the recent use of endowments to support current operations. Comparisons are drawn between actual and optimal endowment spending rates, noting that recent increases in stock and bond markets appear to have brought actual spending…