The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 7 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 7 ENDOWMENT From Page 1 In the letter, Baucus and Grass- ley asked how tax policies, which exempt endowment funds and donations to the endowment from being taxed, have affected the man- agement and the use of endowment revenue. Unlike universities and public foundations, most private founda- tions are required to pay out a min- imum of 5 percent of their assets each year toward their charitable missions. At the time the Senate Finance Committee sent out its letter, there was much talk about instituting a similar rule for uni- versities and public foundations to make them spend more of their endowment each year. THE UNIVERSITY'S DEFENSE OF CURRENT SPENDING LEVELS In response to the Senate Finance Committee letter, Uni- versity President Mary Sue Cole- man sent a 21-page response to the Finance Committee in February 2008. In the University's response, which was submitted by University President Mary Sue Coleman, she addressed 11 key points of concern voiced by Baucus and Grassley. The response said the Univer- sity's endowment had grown 382 percent over the past 10 years as of June 30. At the beginning of 1998, the endowment was valued at $199 billion, but by the end of the 2008 fiscal year, the endow- ment had grown to approximately $7.6 billion. As of December 31, the endowment had lost 14.4 percent of its 2008 value, dropping to $6.5 billion. On the one hand, the University's response also said total financial aid awards from the University's endowment had more than dou- bled over roughly the same time period. In the 1998 - 1999 academic year, the University contributed approximately $19.7 million to stu- dent financial aid through grants and scholarships. By the 2007- 2008 academic year, that figure had increased to about $52.2 million. 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Wilson White Management 734-995-9200 www.wilsonwhitemanagecnent.com ings, Harvard University, Yale University and Dartmouth Col- lege announced plans to increase the amount of endowment money spent on student financial aid. The University did not make a similar announcement. In a January 2009 interview, Coleman said at the time she felt the University was already doing a good job with supporting students' financial constraints with endow- Finance Committee, the University aims to meet 100 percent of dem- onstrated financial need for Michi- gan residents as determined by an internal formula. Coleman said in the January 2009 interview that although she understood what Baucus and Grass- ley were suggesting, she did not agree that it was appropriate for the government to place payout restric- tions on colleges and universities. students of tomorrow suffer. I couldn't do that." A CONSERVATIVE PAYOUT Since University leaders don't think it's appropriate for govern- ment officials to interfere in deter- mining the annual payout of the endowment, the question then becomes how exactlythe amount of that payout is decided. University Chief Investment Officer Erik Lundberg said the University uses a seven-year rolling average to help protect endowed funds, including those endowed for scholarships, from temporary swings of the market. "We want to insulate the oper- ations of the University -from the volatility in the market," he said, "and the way we do that is through the averaging process." Lundberg explained that by taking the past 28 quarters of endowment performance bal- ances, which accounts for the past seven years, and updating them each quarter by replacing the oldest quarter with the new- est, the University is able to aver- age its funds over. a long period of time to stabilize market per- formance that would otherwise be unstable. "By taking the value of the endowment at multiple peri- ods of time rather than at just one, we get a much more stable value," he said. Lundberg said payouts from the endowment are treated the same for all endowed funds, and that a formula determines the annual payout. The payout is 5 Percent annualized over market average, Lundberg said. This means that 1.25 percent of earn- ings on investments as calculat- ed by the seven-year average are dispersed from the endowment each fiscal quarter. By doing this, the four quarters of payouts will result in a 5 percent annualized payout. INCREASING THE ENDOWMENT, INCREASING THE PAYOUT Despite the recent volatil- ity in the markets, the University's recently finished fundraising cam- paign - the Michigan Difference - raised an unprecedented $3.2 billion from the time the campaign went public in 2004. Through the campaign, approxi- mately $545 million were raised for newly endowed scholarship funds. As of the 2008 fiscal year, the new funds have generated $10 million in student support. "Duringthe Michigan Difference campaign, donors created 2,045 newendowedfunds for financialaid in addition to providing expendable funds for scholarships," University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham wrote in an e-mail. Despite the University's success- ful Michigan Difference campaign, Coleman said in the January 2009 interview that the University will likely start another capital cam- paign in the near future. "(This) doesn't mean we stop fundraising," she said. "There'll be another campaign in a few years." Coleman said private fundrais- ing efforts are essential to the Uni- versity's success and contribute to a successful, growing endowment. "We'll start another capital campaign because getting that philanthropic support is critical to keeping the University at the high level that it is," she said. Coleman said that although the University places a large emphasis on fund development for student support, it is often the donors who ultimately decide for what their donations should be used. "Now a lot of (our fund develop- ment) isdependent on what donors want," she said. "Fortunately, in the capital campaign that we just fin- ished, we had put a huge emphasis on financial aid." Of the Michigan Difference cam- paign's final fundraising total, Cole- man said the University "got way over our targets on the money we had wanted to raise f'or financial aid." NEW DONATIONS CAN CREATE NEW RESTRICTIONS When a donor gives money to the University, that person often has an intended use in mind for that dona- tion. A donor interested in giving a large gift to the University must first enter into a gift agreement with the University, said Gordon Beeman, a University assistant gen- eral counsel. "The purpose of the gift agree- ment is to document the purpose, restriction and intended use of the donor's gift .. so that there is no confusion or ambiguity at a later time," he said. Beeman said the gift agreement also outlines that the donor's gift will be subject to the University's bylaws and policies and establishes a payment schedule for the gift. Pay- ment schedules are used to outline how much donors will give over what period of time, if they choose not to donate the gift all at once. More importantly, Beeman said donors typically have a specific purpose in mind for their gift. "Certainly with larger gifts, the donors typically have a specific purpose in mind," he said. "Obvi- ously so long as it's furthering the University's mission, we're delight- ed to document and apply the gift funds in that way." Outlining the purpose of the gift can be more involved than it sounds, as it is sometimes the case that a gift may need secondary specifications, if the primary need cannot be met. Beeman used a scholarship fund at the School of Education to explain why a secondary purpose may be needed. "The real purpose (of the gift) was to benefit students from her particular county, which is located in central Illinois," he said, point- ing out that it is very likely that at any given year a student from that county may not be enrolled in the School of Education. There is a tiered policy so stu- dents from Illinois get the next pri- ority, he said. Then, if no one from Illinois qualifies for the scholarship, then the studentbody at large in the School of Education is eligible for the scholarship, he said. Additionally, a donor could also specify a gift for cancer research, but may put a secondary purpose in the gift agreement in case a cure for cancer is found, so that the money does not go to waste, Beeman said. Although donors can specify some purposes or restrictions on their gift, there are certain things the University is not legally allowed to distinguish, Beeman said. "The University of course is sub- ject to both federal and state law," he said. "As such we cannot dis- criminate based on race or gender, and we don't." However, Beeman mentioned a certain concept - the matching pool concept - that does allow a donor to specify some criteria indi- rectly. Beeman used the example of a donor wanting to benefit a certain gender to illustrate the concept. "It's possible for the Univer- sity to go through its financial aid process, determine the recipi- ents - which of course would be in my example would be male and female - and then from that pool match the donor's gift to someone who is the gender the donor spec- ified," he said. "So in that sense, we can accommodate a donor request." Beeman said it would also be possible for a donor who wanted to benefit underprivileged students to specify a preference for students from an inner city for a scholar- ship. "In that way we're not selecting based on an impermissible class and yet we may capture what the donor truly has in mind," he said. Fiscal yez soucE: E IVERSITY OF MICHIGAN RESPONSE TO UNITEDSTATESSENATE COMMITTEEtONFINANCE ment support. "We always felt like we were pretty exemplary when it came to both the payout that we did and the amount of money we had com- mitted to financial aid," she said. "I understand the Grassley criticism, but I think the University of Michi- gan was already in a position where we were doing extremely well." According to the University's response last year to the Senate She explained that if the University were to provide a larger amount of financial aid to current students, then students in the future would likely suffer. "What we objected to is the notion that some government-run agency should dictate what we do," she said. "We've got to plan forever, and I didn't agree that it was appro- priate to somehow spend down our endowment for the today to make FREE SUBLET FINDER. studio-3 bedrooms; 19 locations to choose from. (734) 741-9300 www.annarborapartments.net MAY - AUG Sublet. 726 S. State. 2 bdrm 2-3 ppl. heat/H20/direct tv incl. fully furn. Rent negotiable. Perfect lo- cation for central campus right near bus stop. 513-315-6273. estesb@umich.edu services HORSES TO LEASE/RIDING Lessons. Dressage/pleasure. 995-0092. 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Outstanding op- portunity for highly motivated and in- telligent U of H pre-lawaor pre-gradu- ate student taking a year off between undergraduate andegraduate studies. Please email resume, cover letter, and transcript to cambedu@aol.com DEBATE FUNDRAISE FOR THE U! $9.25- From Page 1. +/Hr. at Michigan Telefund. On cam- pus, flexible hrs. Students, apply @ Baydoun agreed that tuition is telefund.umich.edu or 763.4400. too high, but he said that in light of PARTICIPANTS FOR A psychology the current economy, the Universi- experiment on simple perceptual judg- ty should freeze tuition to ensure as ments at U of M. One 2-hour 15 min. many students as possible are able session, pays $25. To qualify, must be to have the "Michigan experience". 18+, a native English speaker, and have vision correctable to 20/20. IRB #: "in the short-term, this is what HUM00020435. Email Natasha at we have to do in the troubled econ- nkalaida@med.umich.edu omy; we have to take on tuition," he said. "And we should not be scared tial, Age 18+ ok. No exp. necessary, about a repercussion that we don't training provided. 800-965-6520 x 125. know." Stenvig echoed each of the PRO SHOP WORKERS needed. Golf other two candidates' sentiments. knowledge required. Stonebridge Golf She said that students should take Club, Anni Arbor. April through Oct. Call 734-429-8383. action to push the administration to increase financial aid and to freeze SEASONAL GROUNDS CREW tuition. workers needed for Stonebridge Golf . Club, Ann Arbor. April-Sept. Call 734- "There is widespread agreement 323-8790. now for a tuition freeze," she said. "How do we get that? We don't get -m - 0y that just by having wide support for it; we get it by organizing students' power." The vice presidential candidates from each party began the evening: WORK ON MACKINAC Island this Defend Affirmative Action Party's Summer - Make life long friends. The Alanna Owagbemi, a Kinesiol- Island House Hotel and Ryba's Fudge ogy junior, Michigan Vision Party's Shops are looking for seasonal help in all areas: Front Desk, Bell Staff; Wait Michael Rorro, an LSA junior, Staff, Sales Clerks, and Baristas. Hous- and reMichigan Campaign's Greg ing, bonus, and discounted meals avail- Caplan, a Business sophomore. The able. Call Ryan 1 (800)626 - 6304. www.theislandhouse.com vice presidential candidates debut- ed for about half an hour. Because not all representative candidates were able to debate, packetswere distributedtotheaudi- ence outlining the platforms of each representative running for MSA. Among other questions, Page asked the vice presidential candi- dates whatdistinguishedeachparty from the others, what their primary goals as vice president would be if elected and how strong they think their party's slate of candidates is. Rorro said MVP's emphasis on quality rather than quantity when choosing candidates. makes it unique from other parties. He also said the party's commitment to. making MSA more transparent and accountable makes it different. "I think that our party is distin- guished specifically because of the goals we set out to accomplish from the beginning," he said. "The way we're approaching student govern- ment is different from the way any- one hasin the past." DAAP's Owagbemi said she would want to make herself and her party more available to students than other parties. "I see myself being an aid for stu- dents," she said. "I want students to actually be able to come to me and to know that I'm listening and that our party is actually listening to everything they are saying." Caplan said the diversity of reMichigan's candidates makes its slate especially strong. "Every (reMichigan candidate) that I have spent time with on this campaign, which is all of them, have truly impressed me," he said. "They come from all parts of this campus; they are the most diverse group of people I've ever done any- thing with." After the event, Election Direc- tor Emily Winter, an LSA junior, said she thought the debate went well. "I think the candidates did a really great job. They answered the questions. They touched on a lot of issues, a very broad range of top- ics," she said. "And I think they did a good job of answering the ques- tions fully and giving their honest opinions." MSA Vice President Arvind Sohoni said he thought the debate was positive for MSA, but that he wished more students not involved in student government had attend- ed. He also said the debate was not as heated as he expected. "I wish we had more students at large; you know, naturally you have a lot of candidates show up,"he said. "And it's great; everyone did pretty well. I expected some fireworks, but we didn't really get a whole lot of those." FREE WORKSHOP. FRIDAY, March 20th, 4 to 6pm. 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