Post by Amadan on Apr 18, 2017 9:30:32 GMT -5
Eighteen million on lobbying? For colleges? What's that about?
Hands up, who read it before weighing in?
KEY FINDINGS:
1. Ivy League payments and entitlements cost taxpayers $41.59 billion over a six-year period (FY2010-FY2015). This is equivalent to $120,000 in government monies, subsidies, & special tax treatment per undergraduate student, or $6.93 billion per year.
This makes them no different than any comparably-sized universities. OtB seems to be lumping in everything from Pell Grants to tax-exempt status in "payments and entitlements" to make it sound like the Ivies are particularly large beneficiaries. If you want to do away with federal student loans and abolish tax-deductible contributions to non-profits, okay, but this is not an indictment of the Ivies. They just seem to be a convenient rhetorical wedge for this particular angle.
2. The Ivy League was the recipient of $25.73 billion worth of federal payments during this period: contracts ($1.37 billion), grants ($23.9 billion) and direct payments – student assistance ($460 million).
Again, all colleges receive grants and federal loans and do work for the government. One can argue that the government spends too much in these areas, but that's a broader policy argument, not some special privileged niche that a few prestigious universities have carved out for themselves.
3. In monetary terms, the ‘government contracting’ business of the Ivy League ($25.27 billion – federal contracts and grants) exceeded their educational mission ($22 billion in student tuition) FY2010-FY2015.
This wording is a bit sketchy. They indict the Ivies for "exceeding their educational mission," but what they're actually saying is that the Ivies take in more money from federal grants than from student tuition. Okay, we should be surprised that student tuition alone does not sustain Harvard and Yale? Again, if your mission is to pare down all universities to be self-sufficient without any government funds, okay, but that would be a pretty major change in the educational landscape.
4. The eight colleges of the Ivy League received more money ($4.31 billion) – on average - annually from the federal government than sixteen states: see report.
Okay. I'm sure they receive much less money than 16 other states. Some states are net recipients of federal aid, others are net contributors. So saying "The Ivies receive more money than 16 states!" is misleading. How much does the military receive? How much do (pick any arbitrary set of government agencies) receive? Is the argument that the Ivies do not provide as much value to the taxpayer, or that universities should not receive federal money?
5. The Ivy League endowment funds (2015) exceeded $119 billion, which is equivalent to nearly $2 million per undergraduate student.
So what? They have lots of rich donors.
6. As a non-profit, educational institution, the Ivy League pays no tax on investment gains. Between FY2011-FY2015, the Ivy League schools received a $9.6 billion tax break on the $27.3 billion growth of their endowment funds. In FY2014, the tax-free subsidy on endowment gains amounted to $3.4 billion, or nearly $60,000 per student.
True of all non-profits. We've been having this argument. As long as non-profits are exempt from investment gains, which most of us agree they should be, this will be true. Should the Ivies not fall into this category, or does OtB agree with Rob that non-profits should not get tax breaks?
7. With continued gifts at present rates, the $119 billion endowment fund provides free tuition to the entire student body in perpetuity. Without new gifts, the endowment is equivalent to a full-ride scholarship for all Ivy League undergraduate students for 51-years, or until 2068.
That seems to assume that universities spend money on nothing else but student tuition. What about construction, maintenance, staff salaries, research, etc.?
8. In FY2014, the balance sheet for all Ivy League colleges showed $194,332,115,120 in accumulated gross assets. This is equivalent to $3.35 million per undergraduate student.
So? Are we suggesting we should liquidate the Ivies' assets and give $3.35 million to each of their students?
9. The Ivy League employs 47 administrators who each earn more than $1 million per year. Two executives each earned $20 million between 2010-2014. Ivy League employees earned $62 billion in compensation.
Overpaid college bureaucrats, like overpaid government employees, is popular outrage fodder, but even trimming a few salaries, you're still going to be paying a very large amount of money for enough staff to run institutions that size.
10. In a five-year period (2010-2014) the Ivy League spent $17.8 million on lobbying, which included issues mostly related to their endowment, federal contracting, immigration and student aid.
Name any institutions that size, who are very much affected by the whims of Congress, that don't spend money on advancing their interests. So lobbying is bad? Or the Ivies shouldn't do it? Given all the other expenses listed, $3.6 million/year (sounds like maybe one full-time lobbyist per university) does not seem excessive.