Victors for Michigan campaign raises $5B, setting new record
President Mark Schlissel announced this morning that the University of Michigan has shattered records as the first public university to raise $5 billion in the most successful fundraising campaign of its history.
Here is a link to a press release which has more details.
I found this tidbit interesting: "Of more than 382,000 donors, 94 percent gave less than $5,000, and more than half made their first gift to U-M through the campaign."
Doing some simple math:
- $5B donated by 382K donors, the mean donation was $13,089.
- 359,080 donors gave less than $5,000, meaning those donors gave less than $1.8B in total
- Therefore, 22,920 donors gave $3.2B
- So 6% of the donors gave (at least) 64% of the total donated
The Michigan Difference.
October 4th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
Impressive...wonder if Larry Page has ever dipped deeply into his pocket and made a large gift to Michigan.
Does anyone know the current endowment number? It is easy to find for 2017, but not for 2018.
Is there a place where one can view the investments that Michigan has made with its endowment money.
October 4th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
I have always wondered about Larry as I don't recall hearing any large gifts to us, but to Stanford yes.
If Larry were to sneeze really hard, a couple of million would easily fall out of his pocket, so cumong Larry show us the love!!!
October 4th, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^
Page 56/57 of last years annual report at least shows a break down of the types of investments.
http://2017.annualreport.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/56/2018/01/02-2017-UM-Financial-Report-financial-statements-complete-statements.pdf
But you're not gonna find a list of the actual investments. Most of them are alternative investment funds anyways which generally have names like "Madison Fund 4", and without a fund report you have no idea what that might be invested in.
October 4th, 2018 at 11:51 AM ^
Thank you....I was looking for current valuation and your link, as you noted, is as of June, 2017.
October 4th, 2018 at 11:19 AM ^
Michigan has by far the largest endowment of any single public university (~$10B in 2018), top-10 overall and higher than the non-HYP Ivy League. The only public schools with higher endowments calculate their value at the university system level (UTexas and Texas A&M - both of which have more than a dozen schools in their systems). On a per-student basis, the endowment at small elite schools like Williams and Amherst are the only ones that can compete with HYP.
The University is very very wealthy, and it is definitely reflected in the quality and breadth of services available to students, staff and alumni.
October 4th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^
Of the $1.1 billion raised for students, 93 percent directly supports undergraduate and graduate scholarships and fellowships, enabling the university to provide financial aid to more than two-thirds of its 46,000 students on the Ann Arbor campus.
Wait, 2/3 of students get financial aid? I'm not going to list my HS credentials, because who cares, but I turned down a shitload of full rides to go to Michigan and they didn't give me a penny.
October 4th, 2018 at 11:03 AM ^
I did as well. They gave me like $250 for finishing top in my class. Maybe that counts?
October 4th, 2018 at 11:05 AM ^
2/3 sounds awfully high given the high number of out of state and out of country students who mainly come from wealthy families.
Sounds like some fuzzy math to me.
But damn, $5B is a LOT of money. Btw/ while this doesn't count as athletic department revenue, there is certainly a portion of this that can be attributed to the Michigan teams - primarily, but not limited to: football, basketball and hockey.
Another argument for providing direct monetary compensation to our athletes.
October 4th, 2018 at 3:47 PM ^
Financial aid awards are based on financial need, not your grades.
October 4th, 2018 at 7:48 PM ^
More important is how much they get in financial aid.
Even more important would be what percentage of total tuition/costs are covered by financial aid.
Depending on when you attended UM, even zero financial aid, you may have paid relatively less than students with financial aid today.
In 1995, the tuition for an in-state freshman was ~$2,600 per semester, for example.
Tuition costs have absolutley skyrocketed. Particularly when a bachelor's degree is gaining less and less currency save for a few fields (which goes into the true cost of what you "paid" for your degree).
October 4th, 2018 at 10:59 AM ^
wow. That's a lot
October 4th, 2018 at 11:03 AM ^
This could be included it the "Is Harbaugh worth the money?" conversation. Because, what Jim Harbaugh is doing for Michigan goes far beyond what happens on the football field. When my 9 year old grandson declares that he is getting his PhD from Michigan...and I assure him that his grandmother and I will help in any way we can.
October 4th, 2018 at 11:11 AM ^
Similar vein to what I said above. I was 10 years old when Harbaugh started his first game as Michigan QB vs. #1 Miami (YTM) and his grittiness in that game started my love for all things Michigan.
October 4th, 2018 at 1:54 PM ^
The vast majority of Harbaugh's salary is not paid out of the endowment or the university's general fund. His base salary (like $200k or something) is paid like any other employee, but the "other stuff" that accounts for 95%+ of what he makes is paid directly out of the athletic department.
October 4th, 2018 at 6:26 PM ^
I'm sure what you are saying has something to do with something but it has nothing to do with my point.
The Michigan alumni, in my opinion, value how Jim Harbaugh approaches football...as in it is an ancillary part of the university and life in general. The clear Harbaugh message is that football is not the end all be all...and I believe this translates to an increased appreciation and willingness to donate-from a large and generally wealthy alumni base.
Here, only the pathological partisans will be devastated by a 9-3 season. I am not an alumnus, I do have a deep appreciation for interscholastic athletics. And what Jim Harbaugh is setting forth is most exemplary.
October 4th, 2018 at 11:12 AM ^
I gave $13,095, just so I could say I was above the mean...
FYI, the median would probably be a better measure of central tendency here.
October 4th, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
Forget all the strings that are attached to current donations. Those endowments are huge enough to pay for everything - including the full tuition for all students. There is no reason the interest income alone, on ~$10B, doesn't cover tuition. The point proven again - it's all about making money.
October 4th, 2018 at 11:48 AM ^
Much of the money in the endowment fund is earmarked for a particular purpose other than giving financial assistance to students, i.e., medical research and must be used accordingly.
October 4th, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^
I understand that, hence my cryptic comment about forgetting the strings. I could have phrased that better - do not attach strings to future donations. But if you don't have strings, donations will fall off a cliff. Nobody wants to donate to somebody else's free education!
October 4th, 2018 at 3:04 PM ^
I don't think that's necessarily always true that donors don't want to help pay kids' tuition, but I assume a lot of this is planned giving from people putting together their estates. I can see how some people would prefer to direct their money to a particular thing, as opposed to a slush fund.
It's like very wealthy people who, while they may be very civic minded, instruct their accountants to pay as little in taxes as they can and then provide millions to their own foundation. That's what I would do. I would rather be able to contribute to society how I see fit, instead of giving it to Nancy Pelosi and Orrin Hatch to decide for me (no politics, one from each party).
October 4th, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
Impressive haul.
This news made me ponder the role of outsized endowments in today's academic environment. I recently listened to Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast on this topic (maybe Season 2?). He's not a fan of large university endowments, especially at schools that already have sizable endowments accrued. I don't agree 100% with Malcolm's view on this topic, but I think he's right to question how that money gets allocated, how smaller universities could probably use those funds to significantly change the trajectory of their university more effectively than the already "well-endowed" universities, and the insane endowment arms race that has blossomed in recent years.
I sincerely hope this latest infusion of cash positively alters the typical UM student financial aid package. That should be priority number one.
October 4th, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^
"I sincerely hope this latest infusion of cash positively alters the typical UM student financial aid package. That should be priority number one."
Rubbish—the first priority is adding on another layer of very well-paid "managers" and "associate directors" and "strategists" to the university bureaucracy.
October 4th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^
Cynical, but unfortunately also true. They are already giving free tuition to any kid whose family falls under an income that most people in America would find very acceptable. I don't know how it could work effectively, but maybe some funding could go to an outreach program to under-performing and low-income public school systems to try to bolster those areas with better education. And I don't mean just throw money at them.
October 4th, 2018 at 4:24 PM ^
I'd be happily surprised if this additional funding would help much. There are enough out-of-state students from wealthy homes looking to attend Michigan so the tuition for non-Michigan students can be disgustingly high and cover some of the sins that this University's bloated personnel register has created.
October 4th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
"the first public university to raise $5 billion in the most successful fundraising campaign of its history."
That's fantastic because it means U-M can raise tuition again.
October 4th, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
If my math is right
- 6% of donors ~= 22,920 people
- 64% of $5B = $3.2B
- That upper 6% gave an average of $140K a person.
Dang. Buncha alums a heck of a lot richer than I am
October 4th, 2018 at 1:51 PM ^
nice to see that some wealth being spread for once!
October 4th, 2018 at 2:30 PM ^
Actually, that's not even close to true. Round off the $11B in endowment. It disburses 4.5% of its value each year (that's roughly the 7.5% expected nominal return less 3% inflation), so around $500M. The university took in $1.24B in net tuition last year.
http://2017.annualreport.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/56/2018/01/05-2017-UM-Financial-Report-financial-statements-consolidated-statements.pdf
October 4th, 2018 at 4:16 PM ^
Tuition should be going down as a result, but it won't.
October 4th, 2018 at 7:01 PM ^
With the state aid to Michigan universities equal to what you'd find in the crack of your couch, it's doubtful tuition will drop by any appreciable amount in my lifetime.