Harvard University's $39.2 billion endowment has reached a record value. So did Yale. And Brown. And Dartmouth.
As many wealthy U.S. universities report bulging assets and strong investment gains for the latest fiscal year, the timing isn't ideal. Their fat coffers may draw the ire of lawmakers, some of whom view schools as hoarding their billions of dollars and have questioned their tax-exempt status.
"It makes the schools' efforts to say that they can't afford to pay the new tax a little harder to find sympathy for," said Brian Galle, a law professor who specializes in tax at Georgetown University.
Schools' worst fears were realized last December when a group of private colleges was included in the overhaul of the U.S. tax code. A Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Massachusetts has proposed a state tax of 1.6 percent that would affect Harvard University and nine others with endowments over $1 billion including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University.
New Levy
About 30 schools are expected to pay 1.4 percent on their investment returns to the federal goverment starting this year. College administrators have said the tax may hurt efforts to provide generous financial aid and fund groundbreaking scholarship, but the criticism has mostly fallen on deaf ears of lawmakers so far.
"Tax reform is clearly working: a strong economy and white-hot stock market are bolstering endowments across the board," Nicole Hager, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, said in a statement. "College endowments large and small are making gains as the market continues to climb. The very wealthiest endowments — the only ones subject to the endowment tax — will be just fine."