Second

The Second Open Letter to Princetonians is available on request to devine111@comcast.net

Old-timers' Day

Underhanded Pitch

Forget the endowment, 87% of Princeton's net tuition revenues are paid for by the annual giving campaign, the reunions-based solicitation of alumni. Additional donations, those unrelated to annual-giving, are more than sufficient to cover the remaining 13% (net tuition is approximately $85 million[1], annual-giving just hit $74 million, and in 2015-16, a year in which annual-giving was less than $70 million, revenue from "private gifts, grants, and contracts" was $93 million). So why do we collect net tuition? Because if we didn't we would have to find another source for $85 million in lost revenue, or we would have to cut spending by $85 million. Cutting spending should be a priority in any event. It currently increases at super-inflationary rates (8.3% in fiscal 2016). Spending includes, for example, $125 million for "plasma physics laboratory (PPL)" (a 6% increase over fiscal 2015). PPL is a completely failed project having nothing whatsoever to do with student education. Spending also includes $143 million in "interest on indebtedness." Borrowing by Princeton is, obviously, and completely, inexplicable with an endowment of $22 billion. These examples are in addition to super-inflationary increases in every other "educational and general" expenditure (except "library," of all things). The primary offenders are "academic departments and programs," 13% increase, and "academic support," 15% increase. If the fiscal 2016 increase in spending had been held to 2% (more than the increase provided to social security recipients that year) the lost $85 million in net tuition would have been covered with money to spare.

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[1]Because some "scholarships and grants" may be calculated as a percentage of the student's total cost, calculating "net revenue" might be more a matter of calculus than arithmetic, but, given the quantities involved in this argument, the difference would be insignificant.