Big endowment returns pressure colleges to boost spending

United States colleges are facing increased pressure to spend more on financial aid and salaries after their endowments posted some of the strongest returns in decades, writes Janet Lorin for Bloomberg.

At least one, Washington University in St Louis, said on Monday 4 October, that it will deploy US$1 billion on financial aid, most of it for ‘need-blind’ admissions, which means it won’t consider students’ ability to pay when accepting them.

Schools will be called on to spend more on financial aid and to hold down the growth of the cost of college, said Don Heller, vice president of operations at the University of San Francisco, who studies higher education finance. “Internally, they will also face pressure from faculty and staff,” Heller said, referring to the cuts some schools made during the pandemic.
Full report on the Bloomberg site