Event

Senate Finance Committee’s 2008 questions to 136 colleges

Letters from the Senate Finance Committee’s chairman and ranking member to every college with an endowment of $500 million or more.

6 links, 4 backed by primary records

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Dates: 24 Jan 2008 – May 2008

The letters asked about payouts, student aid, restrictions by donors and fees to investment advisers. They floated, but did not pass, a rule that endowments pay out 5 percent a year as private foundations must.

Connections 6

involved

Senate Finance Committee sent the letters Primary record 1
Chuck Grassley co-signed the letters Primary record 1
Harvard University responded in February 2008 Scholarship & press 2
Stanford University responded; its president opposed a spending requirement Scholarship & press 3
Yale University had announced increased student aid Primary record 1
Dartmouth College had announced increased student aid Primary record 1

Timeline 1 date

24 Jan 2008 – May 2008 Senate Finance Committee’s 2008 questions to 136 colleges

Proof 3 sources

Baucus, Grassley Write to 136 Colleges, Seek Details of Endowment Pay-outs, Student Aid, Senate Finance Committee, 24 Jan 2008. Primary record
Sens. Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley, the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, today wrote to the 136 U.S. colleges with endowments of $500 million or more, asking a series of questions about endowment growth and spending on student aid.
Since then, three colleges – Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth – have announced increased student aid.
Endowments—Under a Tax?, Harvard Magazine, 1 Jul 2008. Scholarship & press
In late February, the University and dozens of other institutions responded to a U.S. Senate Finance Committee request for information
Stanford President, Senators At Odds Over Endowment Spending, The Stanford Daily (via U-WIRE and CBS News), 11 Mar 2008. Scholarship & press
In its response to the Senate Finance Committee inquiry, the University said that over 70 percent of endowment funds are restricted by donors to particular uses.

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