Call them the top 4 percent: elite private colleges and universities that together sit atop three-quarters of the higher education terrain’s endowment wealth.
.. Among that group of 138 of the nation’s wealthiest colleges and universities, four in five charge poor students so much that they’d need to surrender 60 percent or more of their household incomes just to attend, even after financial aid is considered.
.. Unlike other nonprofit organizations, colleges and universities aren’t obligated to spend at least 5 percent of their endowments on mission-related expenses.
.. A Congressional Research Service report from last December estimated that if returns from private college endowments were taxed at 35 percent, the government would collect $11 billion in revenue, based on 2014 figures—money that could be spent helping low-income students.
.. Amherst College reported that if it spent 8 percent of its endowment annually rather than 5 percent, it would lose 60 percent of its wealth in 25 years. But the Education Trust report’s authors said a little bit of extra spending can go a long way. In the 67 schools they reviewed, just increasing the endowment-spending rate from around 4.5 percent to 5 percent could free up resources to cover the tuition for nearly 2,400 new students, the report found.