[thspimpolds]

The average student at Harvard doesn't pay even close to actual tuition, most of the endowment is earmarked for student aid.

If I remember right, something like under 90k earned by the student's family, they pay nothing. I haven't worked there in 2 years, so the math is a bit fuzzy but the concepts are accurate.

[huac]

while most students do pay much less than sticker price, saying 'most of the endowment is earmarked for student aid' feels misleading. in fy2019 harvard spent $193M on student aid (https://finance.harvard.edu/files/fad/files/fy19_harvard_fin...) -- compared to a $5.2B operating expense spend and a $41B endowment size.

[vonmoltke]

> in fy2019 harvard spent $193M on student aid

That is only undergraduate aid applied directly to tuition. Per Note 12 on page 43, "Total scholarships and other student awards" was $613,243k, of which $457,639K was in direct credits to expenses.

That said, I don't know where the GP got the idea that most of the endowment is earmarked for financial aid. Per page 11, that earmark is specifically 19%.

[tylerhou]

Endowment paying operating expenses is essentially financial aid, because it's a cost that is not passed on to the students.

[brain5ide]

A conservative 3% of endowment would be the expendable return. So about 1.2B? Wouldn't be surprised if 193M is the largest distinct chunk of that.

[finolex1]

Yes, but for the 50% of students that are not on financial aid, this must be pretty galling. These students may be rich, but a lot of them are not multimillionaire-rich. Even a family earning 200k a year will feel the pinch.