Boston College’s endowment fund stands at about $1.75 billion. The University of Notre Dame: $7 billion. Harvard University: $37 billion. Georgetown University: $964 million and falling, as of Sept. 30. The billion-dollar question is: What’s happening with the endowment now?
The size of the university endowment has long been a sensitive spot for Georgetown administrators and students. Often cited as a key weak area in widely read college rankings like the U.S. News and World Report list, Georgetown’s endowment is significantly smaller than those of many other academically elite universities.
Since the commencement of the Third Century Campaign in 1989, the university’s endowment has made remarkable progress, and in 2007 – four years after the conclusion of the campaign – the endowment finally surpassed the coveted $1 billion mark.
The recent economic crisis, however, has taken a toll on the fund. With the reported 9.5 percent drop, Georgetown’s endowment has dipped back in the millions; it was last valued at $964 million at the end of September.
This development was neither unanticipated nor avoidable. Every institution of higher learning in the nation, including many of our peer universities, is struggling to adapt to these troubled economic times. The current concern, however, is the university’s failure to keep students adequately informed of developments regarding Georgetown’s financial security. While the administration updated faculty and staff on the university’s financial challenges in a Nov. 5 letter – already a full month after the revaluing of the fund – most students were only updated either when the news of the endowment drop was publicized in a Nov. 13 statement by Georgetown Chief Financial Officer Christopher Augostini or when The Hoya reported it on Nov. 18.
While there is a multitude of possible explanations for this delay, we hope that the administration will be more immediately forthcoming with updates about the status of university finances in the future. In this time of crisis, the economic terrain changes every day. Now, more than ever, the university must provide timely updates on the endowment fund whenever possible.
The endowment, as everyone knows, is not just an issue of pride. It deeply affects all members of the Georgetown community, particularly in regard to tuition and financial aid – in fact, about 5 percent of the university’s operating budget is tied to the fund. The university has already had to table construction of capital projects yet to break ground, including the new science center. The more quickly students and their families are informed of the endowment’s status and its effects on campus life and tuition, the better off the entire Georgetown community will be.
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