As Trump Fumes, U.S. Data Show Why Harvard Is Getting Nearly $9 Million
As Trump Fumes, U.S. Data Show Why Harvard Is Getting Nearly $9 Million
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government’s sweeping $2 trillion stimulus provided about $12.5 billion in direct aid for higher education, an attempt to help all colleges suffering from the coronavirus-induced shutdown. But the program has led to some quirky results, leading to an attack by President Donald Trump on Harvard University.
Under the plan, the money will be distributed based on a formula of schools’ low-income population, who receive Pell Grants, as well as the total number of students who do not get the aid. It also adjusts for part-time students, which hurts community colleges.
Higher education is facing months of turmoil as a result of lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Schools are closed and unsure of when they can reopen, and many have given refunds and cut money-making programs, imperiling their future.
The government’s formula means that Harvard, the richest U.S. college, is eligible to receive $8.7 million, a little more than $8.3 million available to nearby Bunker Hill Community College, according to federal data.
Late Tuesday evening, Trump posted on Twitter that Harvard should “give back the money now.” He did not say if he meant the $8.7 million.
“Their whole ‘endowment’ system should be looked at,” the president added. The most recent public value of Harvard’s endowment was $40.9 billion as of June.
(Schools didn’t make funding requests; the Education Department divvied up money based on its student population data.)
Princeton and Stanford universities, among the richest private colleges, said in statements Wednesday that they wouldn’t accept their allocations.
The student half of the money will go to emergency grants, and colleges are prohibited from reimbursing their own expenses from that share, said Ben Miller, vice president for post-secondary education at the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress and a former Education Department staffer.
“Congress made a mistake when it created a formula that ran all the college funds through one pot,” said Miller, who analyzed the data.
Harvard spokesman Jonathan Swain said the school has not applied for or received any funds from the program.
“We continue to review the additional guidance from the Department of Education related to the fund and will make a determination as to whether we will seek to access the allocation that was made to Harvard by statute,” Swain said.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Wednesday urged Congress to change the law so it doesn’t favor “elite” institutions.
Brown University, with an endowment of $4.2 billion, the smallest among the eight Ivy League colleges, is slated to receive about half as much as Harvard; it enrolls roughly 3,000 full-time equivalent graduate students, a sliver of Harvard’s grad school population, according to federal data.
The public Arizona State University received the largest allocation, $63.5 million, partly because of its size and enrollment of Pell Grant recipients, according to federal data.
While the stimulus bill excludes students enrolled entirely in online-only courses, it did allow some schools with a large portion of web-based students to get some cash. For example, the for-profit University of Phoenix was allocated $6.5 million because its almost 180,000 students are considered financially needy even though fewer than 10% take classes in person.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.