Most of These Universities Will Pay the New Excise Tax
When a school has a large endowment — a pool of donated money that the institution invests — the university can typically pay higher staff salaries and fund more research and new buildings. But a bigger endowment now means paying taxes.
The final tax bill that Congress passed at the end of 2017 levies a 1.4 percent excise tax on private institutions‘ endowments that amount to more than $500,000 per full-time student. Among the 15 private National Universities that reported having the largest endowments, many of these schools will pay the new tax, including Rice University in Texas, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, to name a few.
These are the 15 private National Universities with the biggest endowments at the end of the 2016 fiscal year, according to U.S. News data.
Rice University (TX)
U.S. News rank: 14 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $5,354,508,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 6,855
Learn more about Rice.
Cornell University (NY)
U.S. News rank: 14 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $5,757,722,296
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 22,319
Learn more about Cornell.
University of Chicago
U.S. News rank: 3 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $6,121,266,491
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 13,322
Learn more about the University of Chicago.
Washington University in St. Louis
U.S. News rank: 18 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $6,526,726,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 15,032
Learn more about Washington University in St. Louis.
Duke University (NC)
U.S. News rank: 9
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $6,839,780,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 15,928
Learn more about Duke.
Emory University (GA)
U.S. News rank: 21 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $6,902,625,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 14,077
Learn more about Emory.
Northwestern University (IL)
U.S. News rank: 11 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $7,478,167,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 21,208
Learn more about Northwestern.
University of Notre Dame (IN)
U.S. News rank: 18 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $8,748,266,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 12,393
Learn more about Notre Dame.
Columbia University (NY)
U.S. News rank: 5 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $9,041,027,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 25,084
Learn more about Columbia.
University of Pennsylvania
U.S. News rank: 8
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $10,715,364,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 21,826
Learn more about Penn.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
U.S. News rank: 5 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $13,181,515,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 11,376
Learn more about MIT.
Princeton University (NJ)
U.S. News rank: 1
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $21,703,500,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 8,181
Learn more about Princeton.
Stanford University (CA)
U.S. News rank: 5 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $22,398,130,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 16,914
Learn more about Stanford.
Yale University (CT)
U.S. News rank: 3 (tie)
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $25,413,149,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 12,458
Learn more about Yale.
Harvard University (MA)
U.S. News rank: 2
Endowment (end of fiscal year 2016): $35,665,743,000
Total enrollment (fall 2016): 20,324
Learn more about Harvard.
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15 Private Universities With Large Endowments originally appeared on usnews.com
