Across the Ivies, endowment drops force cutbacks

Despite the economic recession, Penn, as well as most Ivy League and peer institutions, have committed to retaining the quality of students’ experience in the face of budget cuts.

“We have absolutely protected student life from budget cuts,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said. “We’re proud of that, and it’s also a testament to our keen focus on our highest priorities.”

In fact, Penn’s budget grew 4.5 percent compared to fiscal year 2009, Vice President of Budget and Management Analysis Bonnie Gibson wrote in an e-mail. She explained that much of that growth was in sponsored research, which represents about 30 percent of the budget and is projected to increase by over 7 percent this year.

Gibson added that most “administrative expenses were held at FY 09 levels,” and financial aid was increased for both undergraduate and graduate students.

Not all universities could avoid cutbacks, however.

After a 27-percent drop in endowment, Harvard University has been forced to reevaluate its spending strategies.

Upperclassman dining halls eliminated most hot breakfast options, teaching fellows will replace exam proctors and several junior varsity athletic teams are being demoted to club status, according to the Harvard Crimson.

Several Slavic language courses, including Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, have also been removed from the school’s curriculum.

Finally, the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences aims to save $2 million by cutting 8 to 10 percent of the college’s section leaders — similar to teaching assistants — this year, increasing the average number of students per section from 13 to the target 18.

After a 30-percent endowment drop at Yale University, all departments have reduced spending by 7.5 percent, with the expectation that they would cut an additional 5 percent in non-salary expenditures next year, the Yale Daily News reported. Besides these cutbacks on “travel, entertainment, equipment, and supplies,” the paper reported, there has been “a 25 percent reduction in spending on the West Campus and about a 40 percent reduction in spending on the redesign ... of new administrative systems.”

Despite an endowment drop of approximately 25 percent at Princeton University, “our cost-savings initiatives focus on preserving the academic experience ... with the goal being to minimize the impact on the student experience,” Princeton spokeswoman Cass Cliatt wrote in an e-mail.

Similarly, Cornell University administrators decided early on that decisions “could not have a negative impact on access to a Cornell education or on the quality of that education — meaning that steps like increasing class size just to reduce costs were off the table,” Cornell spokeswoman Claudia Wheatley wrote in an e-mail.

Cornell is, however, making money on the new freshman class. The class of 2013 has 100 more students than the class of 2012, and charges for tuition, room and board have increased across all classes, according to the Cornell Daily Sun.

Brown University cut more than $35 million from its FY ‘10 budget. As a statement on the school’s website explained, “Given its strong commitment to continued investment in faculty, financial aid and facilities, the University expects to make additional budget reductions [next year].”

At Stanford University, the School of Humanities and Sciences froze graduate aid funding, while the Engineering School reduced the number of teaching assistant positions. Undergraduate Education trimmed $1.1 million from its undergraduate research program, and Stanford Libraries announced plans to close the physics library, while reducing spending on books, journals and online subscriptions, according to a press release on the university’s web site.

Stanford also laid off 412 employees and expects to dismiss an additional 60 by December, the Stanford Daily reported.

At Duke University, administrators cut $50 million from the budget this year and have encouraged early retirement of eligible employees. Over the summer, 295 bi-weekly employees, including dining hall workers and police officers, opted to participate, according to the Duke Chronicle.

But despite these cutbacks, all of these institutions emphasized that — like Penn — they are committed to preserving or expanding financial aid.

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