Breakingviews - Breakingviews: Harvard aces poli-sci but sweats MBA basics

Rob Cyran - Reuters - 15/04
Harvard University seems to be struggling with basic finance. The Ivy League institution, whose graduates populate boardrooms and investment giants, is scrambling to borrow $750 million as the Trump administration freezes some $2 billion of taxpayer money earmarked for the college. This crisis provides an opportunity for many schools to brush up on their funding models.
NEW YORK, April 15 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Harvard University seems to be struggling with basic finance. The Ivy League institution, whose graduates populate boardrooms and investment giants, is scrambling to borrow $750 million as the Trump administration freezes some $2 billion of taxpayer money earmarked for the college. This crisis provides an opportunity for many schools to brush up on their funding models.
The latest clash follows last year’s campus protests by wealthy donors, including Apollo Global Management boss Marc Rowan and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. Now, the White House is imposing conditions, opens new tab on hefty federal grants, which accounted for 11% of Harvard’s operating revenue, opens new tab in the fiscal year ending June 2024. Among them are an end to diversity-related policies and cooperating with the agency overseeing deportations. Harvard aced the tricky political science part of the exam by boldly rejecting, opens new tab the demands on Monday.
Elite U.S. universities have plenty of money. Harvard’s endowment exceeds $50 billion. Most of it, however, is linked to particular departments, specifically targeted at scholarships or other donor initiatives, and held in hard-to-sell assets. Like many of its peers, the Cambridge-based college has tried to improve returns by devoting a bigger proportion of the ...
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