The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-24
WEALTH OF OUR COLLEGES.
THERE ARE geo WITH PROPERTY ES-
TIMATED At $3.50, 100000.

Business Ability as Well as Scholarship Re
auired In Their ManRgement.-Glrard with
1IB,OOO.OOO and Leland Stanford, DR., with
0I3,5OO,O 900 the Richest-Their Investment
Although II is sedo nj thought OF in this light
che business Of college education is one Of the
great business enterprises Of tho country. The
40 colleges and universities that are about TO re-
open their doors 10 the 10000 American college
students represent invested capital Of $3.50 600.
600, and give employnW': " 25.O0O persons an
teachers and officers. II all the professors, stu
dents and buildings Of all the American colleges
were brou6 hit together in one locality they would
form city of the first magnitude. Counting the
amount expended by the students themselves
and that expended in their behalf by the colleges.
thc total paid out for college education in this
country each year cannot fall short Of 500, 0O0,
600
II Il a fact that the United States spend more
pro rata for higher education than any other
county in the world. The amount per unit Of
population invested in colleges and universities
10 nearly twice as great as in England. and more
than twice az great as In Germany.
While the total wealth Of American colleges
IN $3.50 900 600 or an average OF 1857 900 for each
II Is fact that the greater part Of the total sum is
In the possession Of few of the leading universe
tics There are seven institutions that have
together property worth S8l 900 OOO or an average
of SIS 900 900 each. This leaves an average Of
$3.50, 900 for the remaining 419. II the twenty
seven institutions having productive wealth
amounting to 81, OOO0 900 or more were deducted.
II would be found that the average endowment
In productive funds of the great majority Of Amcri-
con colleges is only $4,000
Not only are American college endowments
larger than those Of any other country. but tho
cost of instruction is greatest here. The wealth
OF American colleges represents an investment
of 81 425 for each of the l75, 900 college students.
In Great Britain the average is about $3.50 for
each student while i'll Germany it is between
$500 and 5000. This mca ms that American profess
ors are better paid and that more money is spent
In college buildings and in scientific and me-
chnnical equipment here than abroad.
Mrs Stanfords recent gift of 81 o. 900, 900, added
TO its previous endowment Of $500 900. makes
Leland Stanford ,Jr the wealthiest educational
institution in the country with one exception. The
exception is Girard College in Philadelphia which
is worth 900 600 and has long stood at the head
of the list The work of Girard College, however
IL the giving Of technical and trade instruction,
so that the newly acquired fortune Of the Cali
forna University makes il the richest OF the in
stitutions devoted to higher education. Next on
the list comes Harvard. with productive funds
amounting to $40 OO000O The Cambridge Uni.
versty is followed closely by Columbia. Cornell
and the University Of Chicago. Contrary to gen
eral opinion. Yale has less wealth than any of
these. her productive funds amounting TO only
S45OOOOO
The figures quoted show not the total wealth of
the institutions named, but the amount from which
their incomes are derived Counting in the prop
erty held by them in buildings and equipment and
the total would he considerably larger The fol
owing table gives approximately the wealth of
these seven colleges