The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-24
Money Side Of
Our Great Universities

Although it is seldom thought of il
this connection. the business of coIlegt
education is one of the great businesses
OF the country. The 426 colleges and
universities that are about to reoper
their doors to the It's, 900 American col
iege students represent an invested
capital OF $3.50, 1000 900. and give employ
ment TO $4,000 persons as teachers and
officers. If all the professors. students
and buildings of all the American col
ieSes were brought together in one To-
CAVITY they would form a city of the
hrst magnitude. Counting the amount
expended by the students themselves
and that expended in their behalf by
the colleges, the total sum paid out
for college education in this country
each year cannot fall short of S100, 000
uoo sum greater than the entire civil
expenditure of the government (ss6,-
100000 in 1889.
1t is fact that the United States
spends more pro rata for higher edu-
cation than any other country in the
world. The amount per unit of popu-
latlon invested in colleges and univer-
sites is nearly twice as great as in
England, and more than twice as great
as in Germany. where, although uni
Verslties are numerous their endow-
country. Yet the total holdings of the
426 American colleges and universities
represents an investment of only a
little more than So for each person in
the country, which is not a large sum,
considering the important place as
signed to liberal education by the
founders of our republican government.
!. While the total wealth of our col
leges is $3.50, 0000 coo, or an average of
nh, ~ - So -
greater part of the total sum is in the
possession of a few of the leading uni
versities. There are seven institutions
that have together property worth $751;
100000, or an average of $13, 100000 each.
This leaves an average of $3.50, 900 for
the remaining 419. IT the twenty-seven
institutions having productive wealth
amounting to $1,00o,000 or more were
deducted, it would be found that the
average endowment in productive
funds of the great majority of Amer
lean colleges is only S113000.
Not only are our college endowments
larger than those of any other country,
but the cost of instruction. is greatest
here. The wealth of American colleges
represents an investment of 81, 425 for
each of the $4,000 college students. In
Great Britain the average is about $3.50
for each student, while in Germany it
is between $500 and $500. This means
that American professors are better
paid and that more money is spent in
college buildings and in scientific and
mechanical equipment here than
abroad.
A Gift of $1O,OOo,oOO
Mrs. Stanford's recent gift of s10,-
100000, added to its previous endow
nent of $3,500,O00, makes Leland STAN
,ord. jr., the wealthiest educational in
;titution in the country, with one ex-
,eption. The exception is Girard col
eye, in Philadelphia, which is worth
IL, 600, 600, and has long stood at the
head of the list. The work of Girard
college, however, is the giving of tech
lical and trade instruction, so that the
newly acquired fortune of the Califor-
Tia university makes it the richest of
he institutions devoted to higher edu-
,ation. Next on the list comes Har-
Fard, with productive funds amounting
o $10,000,000 The Cambridge univer-
ity is followed closely by Columbia,
Cornell and the University Of Chicago.
Contrary to general opinion, Yale has
ess wealth than any of these, her pro-
luctive funds amounting to only $4,-
90, goo.
The figures quoted show, not the to-
al wealth of the institutions named,
,ut the amount from which their in
ones are derived Counting in the
held by them in buildings and
quipment. and the total would be con-
iderably larger. The following table
ives approximately the wealth of
hee5e ceyen colleges.