It's Christmas for Scrooge: Endowment Bulges to $13B

Welcome to the wealthiest--and most fiscally conservative--University in the world.

In four months Harvard will conclude the largest capital campaign in its history, adding $2.1 billion to its already brimming coffers.

Traditionally frugal in its approach, the University is now beginning to invest in you. Don't look for big changes immediately, but appreciate the shift in attitude. Administrators are saving less for a rainy day and giving more back to current students.

The University's endowment, its stockpile of funds, is so large--currently about $13 billion--that market fluctuations can move it up or down by a billion or more dollars.

Its healthy growth supports changes that will affect everything from the books to loans to facilities.

Under a large yellow crane, Widener Library is experiencing a $52 million makeover that began in June. The new and improved library will have air conditioning, a sprinkler system, a fire detection system and two new reading rooms.

"The odor of Widener's deeper recesses, while providing olfactory nostalgia to generations of readers, is actually the smell of decaying books," Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles wrote last January in his annual letter to the Faculty.

Keep an eye out for changes to other buildings around campus--Harvard Hall, Holden Chapel and University Hall--and be sure to admire the $4 million tower atop Memorial Hall.

A year ago Harvard upped each student's financial aid package by $2,000--a move aimed at giving students more free time and fewer loans. But the University only acted after Princeton, Stanford and Yale announced they would overhaul their financial aid policies.

A couple months later Harvard added $95 million to its yearly operating budget by increasing the percentage it dips into from its endowment.

We needed a balance "of financial responsibility between today's Harvard and tomorrow's Harvard," said D. Ronald Daniel, the University treasurer. This, Class of 2003, may become your theme song.

-- Jenny E. Heller