Harvard, Yale $18B Poorer as Endowments Drop 30%

(NEWSER) - Yale's endowment is performing like those of other major universities: miserably. The Ivy League school said today that its fund had plunged 25%, or $5.9 billion, to $17 billion since July, the New Haven Independent reports. Yale's president warned of a $100 million budget shortfall in the 2009 school year and said belt-tightening would be necessary. More»

Smaller class size helps Harvard back to top of influential US News ranking

(NEWSER) - Harvard has reclaimed sole possession of the top spot in the ever-controversial US News and World Report rankings for the first time in 12 years. Princeton slipped to second, with Yale in third and Stanford and MIT tied for fourth spot. The magazine rates the halls of learning based on factors like SAT scores, reputation, and selectivity . More»

*And pre-empts legislation far costlier for superrich schools

(NEWSER) - Generosity isn't what's fueling Harvard’s new $22 million giveaway to the middle class—it’s greed, educational consultant Steven Roy Goodman writes in the Boston Globe. Harvard’s giving the extra financial aid as a PR move, hoping to squash brewing legislation that would force universities to spend 5% of their endowments each year. Because Harvard has $35 billion squirreled away, that would amount to $1.75 billion. More»

Elite universities profit from acting interested in unqualified students

(NEWSER) - Ivy League schools cram high school students' mailboxes full with glossy recruitment packages, only to greet them weeks later with far less appealing rejection letters. Critics say elite universities like Harvard and Columbia set up potential applicants for disappointment by wooing them with pamphlets, posters, and promise, pocketing hefty application fees of up to $90 from students who have little chance of actually getting accepted, Bloomberg reports. More»

If you didn't graduate from Harvard, good luck getting a top job

(NEWSER) - If you’re determined to get a great job, you might want to quit your course of study at Cornell or Dartmouth and transfer to one of the "top 5" schools: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Wharton. A new study shows that recruiters for the best law firms, investment banks, and consultancy firms are only looking at graduates of those schools, Business Insider reports. And even if you’re one of those elite grads, recruiters want to make sure you’re not—in their words—"boring," a "tool," or a "bookworm." More»