IU endowment ranked high nationally

Emerging as a testament to a recent six-year endowment campaign, IU has claimed a place among the top 2 percent of colleges and universities in the nation in terms of private and philanthropic support. According to a national study conducted by the Council for Aid to Education, IU's endowment now ranks in the top 15 among public universities.\nThe honor also places IU in a position to better lure both students and faculty away from smaller private universities, who often have larger privately-funded endowments said IU spokesperson Sue Dillman.\n"Any time the university is able to increase the amount of private support, it creates more buying power for us," Dillman added. "Thus we are able to attract and keep top-notch faculty."\nDillman also noted that since incoming students often base college decisions on the reputation and quality of specific programs, the professional faculty and staff must be of the highest caliber. A high private endowment reflects that quality, she said.\nBut because IU is a public university, it faces difficulty in competing with private colleges. IU, as a state university, depends largely on the state government's budget. Additionally, when public universities lose top faculty members to the lure of private institutions, finding a suitable replacement isn't easy. "Long-term damage" to the university's reputation can often result. \n"Public colleges are essentially being raided (by private colleges)," Dillman said. "We not only want to protect what we have here, but enhance our assets as well. We want to go out and be competitive."\nA large private endowment facilitates such competition, a fact recognized and heeded in July 1994 by the IU Foundation when it kicked off a six-year fundraising campaign. The efforts, which concluded in December 2000, "raised the quality of the campus across the board," said out-going IU Chancellor Ken Gros Louis.\nThe campaign exceeded its goal of $350 million by 44 percent, according to IU President Myles Brand. It included gifts and pledges for endowment, annual support for current spending, and non-governmental grants.\nEndowments "enhance, rather than replace" state funding, Brand said. \n"Since endowments are invested, they create an ongoing, permanent source of funding for faculty and student support," Brand said.\nNow IU leads the Big Ten public universities in the number of endowed faculty positions, with 333 chairs, professorships, and curatorships. It ranks eighth among Big Ten universities and 14th among all public universities in terms of endowment market value. IU ranked 19th among all universities, 7th among private universities and 4th in the Big Ten in terms of total voluntary support.\n"Alumni loyalty is indeed part of (the voluntary giving)," Dillman said. "But one cannot diminish in any way the contributions made by faculty and staff at IU. This is an expression of faith and support for the institution for which they work."\nBruce Jaffee, associate dean of academics for the Kelley School of Business, said the advantages of private giving are two fold. Private giving provides more money for scholarships and fellowships, hence allowing the university to compete for the nation's best students, as well as attracting the best faculty possible.\nJaffee also indicated private giving allows a public university to rely less on state support. Because IU's share of the state budget has been declining, Jaffee says the university must compete with private institutions either through tuition increases or private giving. \nHe cited other Big Ten schools such as the University of Michigan as examples of public institutions that have strayed from the ideal of "broad accessibility," which promotes a broad student body. \n"What can really change a college or university or maintain its quality is the student body," Jaffee said. "The endowment allows us to select the best and brightest students, and that can counteract almost anything else"