IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/edfpol/v14y2019i1p88-114.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Constitutes Prudent Spending from Private College Endowments? Evidence from Underwater Funds

Author

Listed:
  • Drew M. Anderson

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706 Author email: dmanderson5@wisc.edu)

Abstract

This study examines how private colleges and universities choose to spend versus reinvest resources in endowment funds that have suffered investment losses. The analysis takes advantage of a market downturn and public policy shift, which together revealed how colleges define prudent spending. Investment losses during the financial crisis of 2008 left many endowment gift funds below their original donated values, or “underwater.†Colleges in some states were legally required to cut spending from underwater funds. Other states had recently enacted the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, which allows prudent spending from underwater funds. The act loosened financial constraints, and affected colleges responded by spending 22 percent more from their endowments in the fiscal year after the financial crisis. Constrained colleges did not increase spending from unrestricted parts of their endowments to offset reduced spending from underwater funds.

Suggested Citation

  • Drew M. Anderson, 2019. "What Constitutes Prudent Spending from Private College Endowments? Evidence from Underwater Funds," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 14(1), pages 88-114, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:edfpol:v:14:y:2019:i:1:p:88-114
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/edfp_a_00239
    Download Restriction: Access to PDF is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey R. Brown & Stephen G. Dimmock & Jun-Koo Kang & Scott J. Weisbenner, 2014. "How University Endowments Respond to Financial Market Shocks: Evidence and Implications," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(3), pages 931-962, March.
    2. Hansmann, Henry, 1990. "Why Do Universities Have Endowments?," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 3-42, January.
    3. Tobin, James, 1974. "What Is Permanent Endowment Income?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(2), pages 427-432, May.
    4. Woglom, Geoffrey, 2003. "Endowment spending rates, intergenerational equity and the sources of capital gains," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 591-601, December.
    5. Brown, Keith C. & Garlappi, Lorenzo & Tiu, Cristian, 2010. "Asset allocation and portfolio performance: Evidence from university endowment funds," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 268-294, May.
    6. Brown, Jeffrey R. & Hoxby, Caroline M. (ed.), 2015. "How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226201832, September.
    7. Josh Lerner & Antoinette Schoar & Jialan Wang, 2008. "Secrets of the Academy: The Drivers of University Endowment Success," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 207-222, Summer.
    8. Robert C. Merton, 1993. "Optimal Investment Strategies for University Endowment Funds," NBER Chapters, in: Studies of Supply and Demand in Higher Education, pages 211-242, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    10. Moulton, Brent R., 1986. "Random group effects and the precision of regression estimates," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 385-397, August.
    11. Thomas Gilbert & Christopher Hrdlicka, 2015. "Why Are University Endowments Large and Risky?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(9), pages 2643-2686.
    12. repec:mpr:mprres:6050 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Raymond Fisman & R. Glenn Hubbard, 2003. "The Role of Nonprofit Endowments," NBER Chapters, in: The Governance of Not-for-Profit Organizations, pages 217-234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Edward L. Glaeser, 2003. "The Governance of Not-for-Profit Organizations," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number glae03-1.
    15. Gordon C. Winston, 1999. "Subsidies, Hierarchy and Peers: The Awkward Economics of Higher Education," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 13-36, Winter.
    16. Stephen G. Dimmock, 2012. "Background Risk and University Endowment Funds," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 789-799, August.
    17. Harvey S. Rosen & Alexander J. W. Sappington, 2016. "What Do University Endowment Managers Worry About? An Analysis of Alternative Asset Investments and Background Income," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 11(4), pages 404-425, Fall.
    18. Weisbrod,Burton A. & Ballou,Jeffrey P. & Asch,Evelyn D., 2008. "Mission and Money," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521515108, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Keith Brown & Cristian Tiu, 2013. "The Interaction of Spending Policies, Asset Allocation Strategies, and Investment Performance at University Endowment Funds," NBER Working Papers 19517, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Caroline M. Hoxby, 2013. "Endowment Management Based on a Positive Model of the University," NBER Chapters, in: How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education, pages 15-41, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Harvey S. Rosen & Alexander J. W. Sappington, 2016. "Impact of Endowment Shocks on Payouts," Working Papers 250, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    4. Keith C. Brown & Cristian Ioan Tiu, 2013. "The Interaction of Spending Policies, Asset Allocation Strategies, and Investment Performance at University Endowment Funds," NBER Chapters, in: How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education, pages 43-98, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Harvey S. Rosen & Alexander J.W. Sappington, 2015. "What Do University Endowment Managers Worry About? An Analysis of Alternative Asset Investments and Background Income," Working Papers 244, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    6. Harvey S. Rosen & Alexander J. W. Sappington, 2015. "What Do University Endowment Managers Worry About? An Analysis of Alternative Asset Investments and Background Income," NBER Working Papers 21271, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Harvey S. Rosen & Alexander J. W. Sappington, 2016. "What Do University Endowment Managers Worry About? An Analysis of Alternative Asset Investments and Background Income," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 11(4), pages 404-425, Fall.
    8. Jeffrey R. Brown & Stephen G. Dimmock & Jun-Koo Kang & Scott J. Weisbenner, 2014. "How University Endowments Respond to Financial Market Shocks: Evidence and Implications," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(3), pages 931-962, March.
    9. Sandeep Dahiya & David Yermack, 2018. "Investment Returns and Distribution Policies of Non-Profit Endowment Funds," NBER Working Papers 25323, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. David Yermack, 2015. "Donor Governance and Financial Management in Prominent U.S. Art Museums," NBER Working Papers 21066, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Jeffrey R. Brown & Stephen G. Dimmock & Scott Weisbenner, 2012. "The Supply of and Demand for Charitable Donations to Higher Education," NBER Chapters, in: How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education, pages 151-174, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Cejnek, Georg & Franz, Richard & Stoughton, Neal M., 2023. "Portfolio Choice with Endogenous Donations - Modeling University Endowments," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 125.
    13. Rosen, Harvey S. & Sappington, Alexander J.W., 2016. "To borrow or not to borrow? An analysis of university leverage decisions," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 170-185.
    14. Stephen G. Dimmock & Neng Wang & Jinqiang Yang, 2019. "The Endowment Model and Modern Portfolio Theory," NBER Working Papers 25559, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. William N. Goetzmann & Sharon Oster, 2013. "Competition among University Endowments," NBER Chapters, in: How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education, pages 99-126, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Harvey S. Rosen & Alexander J. W. Sappington, 2016. "To Borrow or Not to Borrow? An Analysis of University Leverage Decisions," NBER Working Papers 21951, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Paolo Guasoni & Gur Huberman & Dan Ren, 2020. "Shortfall aversion," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 869-920, July.
    18. Christopher Avery & Ronald Ehrenberg & Catharine Hill & Douglas A. Webber, 2024. "Endowment Spending Rules," NBER Chapters, in: Financing Institutions of Higher Education, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Sofia Johan & Minjie Zhang, 2021. "Information Asymmetries in Private Equity: Reporting Frequency, Endowments, and Governance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 199-220, November.
    20. Yan Lau & Harvey S. Rosen, 2015. "Are Universities Becoming More Unequal?," NBER Working Papers 21432, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tpr:edfpol:v:14:y:2019:i:1:p:88-114. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kelly McDougall (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://direct.mit.edu/journals .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.