Why Colleges Can't Use Endowments to Lower Student Tuition | TIME Ideas | TIME.com

Why Colleges Can't Use Endowments to Lower Student Tuition | TIME Ideas | TIME.com: When the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) released its annual report on endowments last week, the big numbers grabbed headlines — Harvard’s endowment, the nation’s largest, grew 15%, to $31.7 billion. Less attention was directed to Southern Virginia University’s endowment of $574,000, which won’t provide too many scholarships at a place that costs more than $18,000 a year.