Take a leadPrinceton was the first school financially capable of eliminating tuition, and since the early ‘90’s I’ve been urging them to do so. To no avail. Now Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and who knows what other so-called colleges, are announcing financial aid initiatives that appear to be tuition-free, for all but the rich, variously defined. And there we are, still standing on first base, looking perplexed and adjusting our athletic supporter. So it’s too late to get off the base and get a lead on tuition-free education, but it’s not too late to see where the next two bases are, and steal them, before we’re picked off again by Dartmouth, or some other ag-school. Second base is zero-risk, on-shore investment, which means to make an orderly liquidation of the endowment investments in hedge-funds, private equity positions, partnerships, and stocks, and replace them with a ladder of government and corporate bonds. Single-digit rates of return on endowment investment will fund inflation-capped operational spending (without any decline in real-dollar principal). So there is no point in taking the risk inherent in the aggressive investments currently comprising the endowment, and there will be the added benefit of eliminating management and transaction costs (the details of which the university refuses to disclose). On-shore bond investments also would defuse the on-going congressional snooping. Third base is the aforementioned inflation-capped operational spending. Let’s see someone make an argument against that that doesn’t sound stupid and self-interested. And home plate? I’ll let you know when we get to third. Should I live so long.
