Penn State is the 46th wealthiest university in the country by endowment at $1.59 billion, consistent with a nationwide trend of increasingly high university endowments, according to an inquiry ordered by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.
Penn State's endowment grew about 20 percent from 2006 to 2007, which Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity Richard Vedder said is in line with the national average university endowment increase.
"If you compare that with what the average investor returned over a 12-month period, it's pretty high," he said.
Though Penn State has the highest tuition among public schools in the Big Ten, Penn State has the seventh highest endowment -- which includes donor gifts and investment gains and losses -- in the conference, according to the committee's report. The report was released earlier this month.
"[Penn State is] a high tuition school but a middle endowment school," Vedder said.
Among other state-related universities, Penn State ranks behind the University of Pittsburgh, the 28th wealthiest university, at more than $2.25 billion, and ahead of Temple University, the 230th wealthiest university, at about $236.7 million. Lincoln University was not mentioned in the list of 785 schools.
Although state appropriations are not counted in the endowment number, Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said the university has been receiving disproportionate state funds.
"When you work it out to a per student level, our state appropriations are lower than a Pitt or a Temple," Powers said. "The quickest and best way for the state to invest in students is to increase state appropriations."
Penn State President Graham Spanier will testify before the state's House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 26 to request more state funding.
Vedder attributed the growth to a recent trend of aggressive investments in hedge funds and overseas investing in the economies of more politically volatile countries.
"There's been some evidence to show the gap between rich and poor schools is growing," Vedder said.
Spanier said in his address to the Penn State Board of Trustees on Jan. 18 that Penn State's endowment is the reason for lack of competition with wealthier schools.
"Penn State's endowment is incredibly modest compared to those at Harvard or Yale," Spanier said at the meeting. "Some of the wealthy, principally private universities in the country that have very substantial endowments are under an increased level of scrutiny for the rapidly growing size of their endowments and their rapidly growing tuition."
After its findings, the committee sent letters to 136 of the wealthiest schools on its list last week, asking for detailed information on their financial statuses, according to a press release from the Senate Finance Committee.
Powers was aware that Penn State was named on the list of schools to receive a letter and was unsure of whether or not Penn State had received a letter by press time yesterday.
Powers said Penn State intends to fully cooperate with the committee's letter of inquiry.
"We plan to answer all of the questions," Powers said.
