Cornell posted a 3.4% return for the year ended 6/30/15, lowest among the Ivies, with only Columbia left to report. The other Ivies had returns of between 5.7% and 12.7%. Each 1% increment in return adds over $60 million to Cornell's $6.3 billion endowment.
Related: The congressman whose district includes Ithaca wants to require universities with endowments of more than $1 billion to put 10 percent of their investment returns toward reducing tuition. He'd also change tax rules to treat unrestricted donations more favorably.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/10/08/house-republicans-question-university-endowment-spending-executive-compensation
With Columbia having now reported, Cornell's endowment returns for the last fiscal year were materially below all the other Ivies. Our returns for the last few years have been relatively weak.
An Itahca Voice (http://ithacavoice.com/2015/10/for-most-income-brackets-paying-for-cornell-has-gotten-easier/) analysis (rehash?) comparing college tuition increases with financial, and touching on the impact on recruitment of a diverse student body.
QuoteThe problem is that simply highlighting the bottom-line tuition number — now a whopping $48,880, for those keeping score at home — dramatically oversimplifies the underlying complexity in order to get a cheap sensational shock.
More importantly, doing so leads readers astray from the real story: That Cornell — like other elite universities — has followed through on genuine commitments to reducing the cost of tuition for low- and middle-income families.
Cornell put out a release today stating that its Chief Investment Officer is stepping down. Our recent returns have been poor relative to that of peer institutions.
i think the issue is where they define low and middle income. families making 100-200K sounds good and it is but that doesnt mean they have 40-50K a year to throw at a kids college bill.
Today's Wall Street Journal has a story showing that Cornell's 10-year endowment returns are worst in the Ivies.