哈佛大學縮減開支應對經濟危機
Harvard University is considering spending cuts because the economic slowdown may reduce federal grants and the school's substantial endowment, President Drew Faust said Monday.
Harvard's endowment posted an 8.6 percent return and grew to $36.9 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 30. The school, however, lost 12.7 percent on its U.S. stock portfolio and 12.1 percent on its foreign equity portfolio during that time.
Still, Faust warned in an e-mail to faculty, staff and students that "we must recognize that Harvard is not invulnerable to the seismic financial shocks in the larger world. Our own economic landscape has been significantly altered."
"We need to be prepared to absorb unprecedented endowment losses and plan for a period of greater financial restraint," she said.
Harvard's is the nation's largest university endowment and provides about a third of the annual operating budget. Faust said the school is looking at ways to cut spending and will review compensation costs, which account for nearly half of the budget.
Harvard also is reviewing its ambitious expansion program, including plans announced early last year to expand across the Charles River from its Cambridge campus into Allson, she said.
"We will need to plan and act in ways that reflect that reality, to assure that we continue to advance our priorities for teaching, research and service," she said.
The school intends to implement initiatives to make education affordable to students from low- and middle-income families, and will ensure that those with income below $60,000 will pay nothing to send children to Harvard College. Those earning up to $180,000 can expect to pay no more than about 10 percent of their income, she said.
Harvard's efforts to address the economic downturn mirror what is happening elsewhere in the country, including other Ivy League schools. While wealthy schools can fare better in a downturn, they are also seen as vulnerable to prolonged market slumps because they tend to fund a greater portion of their budget from their endowment.
哈佛大學校長德魯•福斯特於本週一稱，由於經濟危機可能會導致聯邦教育撥款和捐贈基金減少，學校目前正考慮縮減開支。
在截至今年6月30日的財政年度中，哈佛大學的捐贈基金收益率達8.6%，增至369億美元。但在這一階段，該校在國內和境外的證券投資收益分別損失了12.7%和12.1%。
福斯特在發給全校教職工和學生的一封電子郵件中稱：“我們必須認識到，哈佛也無法倖免此次全球金融風暴的影響。目前我們的經濟狀況已被顯著改變。”
她說：“我們必須做好準備，以面對捐贈基金的大幅減少及今後一段時期的開支緊縮。”
哈佛大學獲得的捐贈基金居全美高校之首，其年度預算的三分之一都來源於此。福斯特稱，目前學校正在想辦法縮減開支，並考慮調整薪酬政策，哈佛大學每年的薪酬成本佔其總預算的近一半。
此外，哈佛正重新考慮其校區擴建計劃，比如去年年初提出的跨過查爾斯河，將學校從坎布里奇校區擴張至奧爾森的計劃。
她說：“我們必須因時制宜，保證優先發展教學、科研及服務。”
學校將採取一些措施，以保證中低收入家庭的學生順利入學；此外，學校還打算免去家庭年收入低於6萬美元的本科生的學雜費。家庭年收入達18萬美元的學生所支付的學費也不會超過其家庭總收入的10%。
哈佛大學應對經濟危機的舉措並非特例，其它“常青藤”盟校也採取了類似措施。雖然財政狀況較好的大學在金融危機中不至於太難，但由於它們比其他學校更依賴捐贈基金，因此也會受到市場長期蕭條的影響。
