*In 2001 FSU had the #121 ranked endowment. It is now ranked #158. FSU has fallen greatly in recent years.
https://www.nacubo.org/Research/2020/Public-NTSE-Tables
*In 2011, here was the ACC PER STUDENT endowment (approx):
Two things can be true at the same time. FSU has major disadvantages in the endowment game. At the same point, it has done a poor job of growing it's endowment looking at the data.
https://accfootballrx.blogspot.com/2020/05/on-2nd-thought-why-maryland-left.html
One of the ways to detect administrative mismanagement at a major university is to look at it’s overall endowment. MD has been so mismanaged over the decades that it has only a tiny endowment, the smallest of the B1G and ACC. Here's the 2018 value of all Big Ten and ACC endowments [ACC schools in bold]:
1. Michigan $12 BillionMichigan to Purdue have had about 175 years and lots of students and research money to build up those huge endowments. Notre Dame and BC owe much of their endowments to their religious affiliations (even Wake Forest has a little from that element).
2. Northwestern $11 B
3. Notre Dame $11 B
4. Duke $8.5 B
5. UVa $7 B
6. Ohio State $5.2 B
7. Penn State $4.2 B
8. Pitt $4.2 B
9. Minnesota $3.7 B
10. UNC $3.4 B
11. Wisconsin $3 B
12. Michigan State $3 B
13. Illinois $2.6 B
14. Purdue $2.5 B
15. Boston College $2.5 B
16. Indiana $2.4 B
17. Georgia Tech $2 B
18. Nebraska $1.7 B
19. Iowa $1.5 B
20. NC State $1.3 B
21. Syracuse $1.3 B
22. Rutgers $1.3 B
23. Wake Forest $1.3 B
24. Virginia Tech $1.1 B
25. Miami $1.0 B
26. Clemson $0.74 B
27. Louisville $0.70 B
28. Florida State $0.68 B
29. Maryland $0.355 B
From Indiana to Virginia Tech you have a variety of mostly a state land grant colleges, which have smallish endowments. Miami is small and private. Clemson was an all-male military school until the early 1960’s and remains small compared to other land grants. Louisville was a city college until the 1970’s and Florida State was a girls school until the 1950’s. None of those is expected to have huge endowments at this point.
Then there is Maryland - a large state flagship university - with the smallest endowment by far.
I'm told that there's very little cooperation between the academic and athletic fund-raising groups at Maryland, too. So in a nutshell: (a) small endowment, (b) insufficient revenue for athletics, and (c) academics and athletics that don't work well together.
Interesting point - I never thought to look at it in terms of $endowment per student. Having a huge enrollment really hurts FSU there in the short term (but helps in the long term, presumably). If you look at endowment divided by total students enrolled at Ohio State (Columbus campus only), it's even lower than FSU ($90,473 per student for OSU).
ReplyDeleteI hit enter too soon... my point was simply that big land-grant schools (like FSU and OSU) don't have big endowments, especially on a per student basis. OTOH, private schools NEED big endowments - meaning Miami is in far worse shape than FSU, IMO.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, there are many ways to look at it. FSU alumni are often shocked to learn how poor FSU is....because by almost every measure, FSU is. FSU does a great job making up for it in efficiency (some may laugh, but FSU is really good here), location, and a growing state.
DeleteI am concerned about one thing - the AD. I'll probably post something about that today.
DeleteThe other thing of concern about FSU's endowment is that it does not seem to be matching growth / return. It seems similar institutions are earning a higher rate of return. Any comments on this issue?
ReplyDeleteI have tracked and posted on this throughout the years. It is one of the cornerstones of my issues with FSU leadership. They have simply ignored this MAJOR issue. Why? I have no idea. FSU just seems regularly disinterested in these major topics. I haven't seen every BOT throughout the years....but I've seen MANY....never seen FSU address this topic. They have spent more time on silly issues. IMHO, FSU simply lacks professional leadership. It comes down to that. This issues is one of many that makes me believe that.
DeleteThank you for your reply. FSU has no excuses for their endowment not be be close to 1 billion plus at this point. Another point of concern is our inefficiencies in the college structure. We have too many colleges. If you look at UCLA they have a bit more students but only have 5 schools / colleges. FSU just seems unwilling to address for reasons unknown to me.
ReplyDeleteInteresting perspective. One other aspect of this conversation is requiring colleges to fund raise. Specifically Deans need to be required to do this. Far too often I have heard FSU doesn't do this much and it's a problem.
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