Marquette endowment

[MU Chi_IL]

Anyone know where the Marquette endowment currently stands?  I know a few years ago the plan was to kick off a fund raising campaign that would contribute 50% of funds toward the endowment with a goal of hitting $1 billion around 2013.  I am just wondering with the economy where it is, how are we doing?

The reason I ask is Harvard lost $8 Billion in 22 months,
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/12/harvards_endowm.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed7

Edit
I found this article, gives a little update on the campaign:

http://media.www.marquettetribune.org/media/storage/paper1130/news/2007/11/27/News/Fundraising.Set.On.Endowment-3115585.shtml

[Wareagle]

I assume it has dropped, Harvard's dropped 22%.  I'll look up some fundraising infro.

[mu_hilltopper]

A mild thread-jacking .. but I recently had a conversation with a friend and MU BoT member ..

I asked him .. with tuition going up far past inflation every year .. and MU's standing at $30k+/year .. do you ever stop and think tuition is getting out of hand?

Then this was in the NYT yesterday:

(see below)

His comment was .. costs increase.  You can either push the cost to tuition, or raise money for endowments/scholarships.

My response: While more donated money is always good .. it doesn't solve the long term problem.   All it does is alter the balance between what people pay with their own resources, versus what they can "get" through scholarships, grants, and loans.





http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/education/03college.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

College May Become Unaffordable for Most in U.S.
By TAMAR LEWIN

The rising cost of college — even before the recession — threatens to put higher education out of reach for most Americans, according to the biennial report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Over all, the report found, published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade, and students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families.

"If we go on this way for another 25 years, we won't have an affordable system of higher education," said Patrick M. Callan, president of the center, a nonpartisan organization that promotes access to higher education.

"When we come out of the recession," Mr. Callan added, "we're really going to be in jeopardy, because the educational gap between our work force and the rest of the world will make it very hard to be competitive. Already, we're one of the few countries where 25- to 34-year-olds are less educated than older workers."

Although college enrollment has continued to rise in recent years, Mr. Callan said, it is not clear how long that can continue.

"The middle class has been financing it through debt," he said. "The scenario has been that families that have a history of sending kids to college will do whatever if takes, even if that means a huge amount of debt."

But low-income students, he said, will be less able to afford college. Already, he said, the strains are clear.

The report, "Measuring Up 2008," is one of the few to compare net college costs — that is, a year's tuition, fees, room and board, minus financial aid — against median family income. Those findings are stark. Last year, the net cost at a four-year public university amounted to 28 percent of the median family income, while a four-year private university cost 76 percent of the median family income.   

The share of income required to pay for college, even with financial aid, has been growing especially fast for lower-income families, the report found.

Among the poorest families — those with incomes in the lowest 20 percent — the net cost of a year at a public university was 55 percent of median income, up from 39 percent in 1999-2000. At community colleges, long seen as a safety net, that cost was 49 percent of the poorest families' median income last year, up from 40 percent in 1999-2000.

The likelihood of large tuition increases next year is especially worrying, Mr. Callan said. "Most governors' budgets don't come out until January, but what we're seeing so far is Florida talking about a 15 percent increase, Washington State talking about a 20 percent increase, and California with a mixture of budget cuts and enrollment cuts," he said.

In a separate report released this week by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, the public universities acknowledged the looming crisis, but painted a different picture.

That report emphasized that families have many higher-education choices, from community colleges, where tuition and fees averaged about $3,200, to private research universities, where they cost more than $33,000.

"We think public higher education is affordable right now, but we're concerned that it won't be, if the changes we're seeing continue, and family income doesn't go up," said David Shulenburger, the group's vice president for academic affairs and co-author of the report. "The public conversation is very often in terms of a $35,000 price tag, but what you get at major public research university is, for the most part, still affordable at 6,000 bucks a year."

While tuition has risen at public universities, his report said, that has largely been to make up for declining state appropriations. The report offered its own cost projections, not including room and board.

"Projecting out to 2036, tuition would go from 11 percent of the family budget to 24 percent of the family budget, and that's pretty huge," Mr. Shulenburger said. "We only looked at tuition and fees because those are the only things we can control."

Looking at total costs, as families must, he said, his group shared Mr. Callan's concerns.

Mr. Shulenburger's report suggested that public universities explore a variety of approaches to lower costs — distance learning, better use of senior year in high school, perhaps even shortening college from four years.

"There's an awful lot of experimentation going on right now, and that needs to go on," he said. "If you teach a course by distance with 1,000 students, does that affect learning? Till we know the answer, it's difficult to control costs in ways that don't affect quality."

Mr. Callan, for his part, urged a reversal in states' approach to higher-education financing.

"When the economy is good, and state universities are somewhat better funded, we raise tuition as little as possible," he said. "When the economy is bad, we raise tuition and sock it to families, when people can least afford it. That's exactly the opposite of what we need."

[jce]

I think the tuition figures at many private schools are completely misleading.  When I was at MU 20+ years ago, the price was around $10,000...and everyone pretty much paid it.

Now the tuition is about $30,000, but 90% of the applicants get it discounted in some way.  The rich and the dumb are the only ones that pay the actual list price.  What matters is the discount.  My son has applied to a few private schools, and from one of them he got a "Presidential Scholarship."  A scholarship so prestigious that 50% of their applicants are awarded one!!!

[jaybilaswho?]

When i got admitted into MU, i received the ignatius scholarship for leadership. it was, i think, $3000 off each semester.

I would agree that most of the applicants that are admitted get some sort of a scholarship. It is smart because any 'help' in the cost of tuition can definitly help an applicant decide a school. My scholarship definitly helped me decide to go to MU just because it was more than I got from SLU.

[MUEng92]

When I was at MU 20+ years ago, the price was around $10,000...and everyone pretty much paid it.

When you say everyone paid it, do you mean with cash or with loans?  When I was there in the late 80's, early 90's, my only shot at attending MU was with 2 substantial loans per year.

I don't understand how people are going to afford college in the future.  Most of the people I work with are not saving for their kid's college education.  We are saving as much as we can (after paying for Catholic grade school) and I am just aiming to have a portion of tuition for a public university.  I keep telling my girls that they better have perfect grades or a great 3 pt shot if they want to go to MU.

[mu_hilltopper]

I'm right there with you.  The tuition gap between public and private schools gets bigger every year, starting salaries not close to keeping up.

I do wonder if there is a statistic concerning.. 10-20 years ago, I'll guess the average # of years to pay off your student loans was 4-6 years.   Today, I'll guess it's double that.  In 10-15 more years, it could be 15-20 years to pay off the average college tuition.   That's unreal.

While I believe in the incredible value of education, private education, with its incredible cost premium over public tuition, could price itself completely out of this world.

[MU Chi_IL]

A great resource for preparing for college savings is http://www.finaid.org/ run by a guy named Mark Kantrowitz. 

He has created a number of calculators (that scare the crab out of me) that project college cost and savings needed.  http://www.finaid.org/calculators/

[mu_hilltopper]

From MU's tuition page:
Tuition     $27,720
Room and board    $9,200
Books    $900
Fees    $404

$38,200 per year.  Holy crap. 


Super.  My new son, 18 years from now will cost:

at 5% increases: $91,000 per year at MU   
at 7% increases: $128,000 per year at MU 

That's just insanity.  So, seeing as I also have a 2 year old.  I could pay $200k/year to MU for both kids.  Yeah, that's really not going to happen.

At UW-Madison:
Tution, R&B = 16,200

at 5% increase = $39,000
at 7% increase = $54,700

Somehow, I don't think UW tuition will increase like that y/y.

at 3% increase = $27,500

[jce]

From MU's tuition page:
Tuition     $27,720
Room and board    $9,200
Books    $900
Fees    $404

$38,200 per year.  Holy crap. 

But again, hardly anyone pays that full price.  My son won't hear from MU until March, but my guess is that he will get $10,000 knocked off of that.  (He is a very good student, but hardly elite.)  But that's still $28,000.

We have basically told my son that we can pay the equivalent of a UW-Madison.  Anything above that is going to have to be borrowed by him unless we can figure something else out.

[MUEng92]

That is pretty much what we are shooting for.  In our first visit to our financial planner about 10 years ago, we told her that my wife and I met at MU.  When the conversation turned to planning she said, so you guys want to assume paying for 4 years at MU for two kids.  I laughed out loud (I felt a little bad about that).

I caught myself and said, "no, lets just assume a public school".

[mu_hilltopper]

There you go.  That's why I asked my BoT friend if they realize that if two MU grads very quickly decide their kids aren't going to MU because of cost, that the prices and increases that are occurring just aren't sustainable over the long haul.

[77ncaachamps]

There should be an ALUMNUS discount. And the more alums in the family, the greater the discount!

Isn't that a way to build legacies and encourage endowments since the families will have realized "savings" from this "legacy discount"?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

From MU's tuition page:
Tuition     $27,720
Room and board    $9,200
Books    $900
Fees    $404

$38,200 per year.  Holy crap. 


Super.  My new son, 18 years from now will cost:

at 5% increases: $91,000 per year at MU   
at 7% increases: $128,000 per year at MU 

That's just insanity.  So, seeing as I also have a 2 year old.  I could pay $200k/year to MU for both kids.  Yeah, that's really not going to happen.

At UW-Madison:
Tution, R&B = 16,200

at 5% increase = $39,000
at 7% increase = $54,700

Somehow, I don't think UW tuition will increase like that y/y.

at 3% increase = $27,500

my financial advisor (mu grad) estimated for us $311k for 4 years for our now 2 year old.  he had UW at $175k.  FWIW.

[Sir Lawrence]

Using my youngest, child number 4, as an example:   a freshman at Dayton, (interesting, given this basketball season.  Also have a senior at UW, so his little sister is enjoying the Dayton > MU > UW, ergo UD > UW).  Her bill this first semester was $18,941.  Next semester will be $18,420.00 (they front loaded orientation, etc.)  Of that, tuition is $13,100.  A modest break is given for a small scholarship. 

Factor in travel and miscellaneous, and you are at roughly $38,000 per year in current dollars.  When I was at MU it was possible to have a good summer job to pay for at least the tuition component.  That is impossible now.  The best of summer jobs will maybe cover the food bill.

[Wareagle]

At UW-Madison:
Tution, R&B = 16,200

at 5% increase = $39,000
at 7% increase = $54,700

Somehow, I don't think UW tuition will increase like that y/y.

at 3% increase = $27,500

Here are some stats I got from Googling. 
http://www.uwalumni.com/home/alumniandfriends/advocacy/alumni4wisconsin/a4wtuitiontrends.aspx
UW-Madison Tuition increases.  This is tuition only so it doesn't include room and board.
    * One year in-state tuition and fees for 2008 — $7,188
    * One year in-state tuition and fees for 1995 — $3,408
    * Increase over ten years — 83.5%
    * Increase over last two years— 13.9%

[jce]

Here are some stats I got from Googling. 
http://www.uwalumni.com/home/alumniandfriends/advocacy/alumni4wisconsin/a4wtuitiontrends.aspx
UW-Madison Tuition increases.  This is tuition only so it doesn't include room and board.
    * One year in-state tuition and fees for 2008 — $7,188
    * One year in-state tuition and fees for 1995 — $3,408
    * Increase over ten years — 83.5%
    * Increase over last two years— 13.9%

That's because the state keeps cutting the UW System budget.

[jce]

There you go.  That's why I asked my BoT friend if they realize that if two MU grads very quickly decide their kids aren't going to MU because of cost, that the prices and increases that are occurring just aren't sustainable over the long haul.

Marquette has been about as selective lately as they have ever been.  However it is going to be interesting to see what happens if the economy turns south AND credit tightens up making loans harder to get.

And by the way, my son will likely be attending a school just as expensive as MU.  Just that MU doesn't have the program he is interested in.

[Wareagle]

That's because the state keeps cutting the UW System budget.

You're right, but I think the state will keep cutting.  At some point soon, Madison could become a de facto private school like Michigan.