Harvard Got $5.6M in Federal Student Loans and Grants--Despite Its $31.7B Tax-Exempt Endowment

In fiscal year 2011, Harvard University’s tax-exempt endowment jumped in value by about $4.17 billion, rising from $27,557,404,000 to $31,728,080,000--but that did not stop Harvard from collecting tuition and fees derived from federal grants and student loans that U.S. taxpayers provided to Harvard undergraduates.

Other universities with major endowments--including Yale and Princeton (from which the author of this article graduated)--also saw massive increases in their endowments and they also benefited from their students paying tuition and fees with federal grants and loans.

In the 2009-2010 school year, according to the U.S. Department of Education, Harvard undergraduates received $4,093,140 in federal Pell Grants and $1,467,017 in federal student loans.

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