Even though colleges and universities have become the richest institutions in the history of our nation, tuition continues to skyrocket while institutional spending from tax-free higher education endowments remains meager. Federal lawmakers now question whether college and university endowments should remain unregulated and exempt from taxes, and are considering requiring schools to spend a percentage of their value each year, as private foundations must. Several schools have announced plans to dip into their endowments to defray students’ tuition expenses, but are they doing as much as they should in the area of financial aid? And are they violating donor intent by sitting on funds for generations?
