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These cunts stole your tax dollars for covid relief
Facing Backlash, Harvard Will Allocate 100 Percent of CARES Act Funds to Student Financial Assistance
By Ellen M. Burstein and Camille G. Caldera, Crimson Staff Writers
April 21, 2020
After receiving backlash for the nearly $9 million in funding it netted under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Harvard will allocate the sum to student financial assistance.
Numerous members of Congress — including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — expressed outrage on Twitter that Harvard would be receiving federal assistance.
All five members of Congress cited the size of the University’s endowment in their tweets.
“This is ridiculous. Taxpayer relief funds should go to those in real need. Harvard University has a $41bn endowment—the largest in the world. Put another way, Harvard’s endowment is $13mm per student, or $171mm per faculty member,” Cruz wrote on Sunday.
Harvard’s endowment — the largest of any University in the world — was last valued in June 2019 at $40.9 billion.
However, top administrators have said its value has declined as a consequence of the pandemic. Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Thomas J. Hollister cited an estimate placing the value of the endowment in the “mid 30-billion range” in an interview with The Crimson last week.
Cruz and Scott both voted for the CARES Act, which passed the Senate 96-0 on March 25. It passed the House by a voice vote and was signed into law by President Donald J. Trump on March 27.
University spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in an emailed statement Monday that Harvard will not be using any of the funds it is set to receive from the CARES Act to cover institutional costs.
“By federal formula laid out in the CARES Act, Harvard was allocated $8.6 million, with 50% of those funds to be reserved for grants to students,” Newton wrote. “Harvard is actually allocating 100% of the funds to financial assistance for students to meet their urgent needs in the face of this pandemic.”
Newton wrote Harvard will distribute the funds “based on student financial need.”
The Department of Education used a formula laid out in the legislation to allocate the funds among thousands of American institutions of higher education. The formula took two factors into account: the proportion of students who receive federal Pell Grants, which was weighted 75 percent, and total graduate and undergraduate enrollment, which was weighted 25 percent.
According to Newton, 16 percent of Harvard’s 6,500 undergraduates are Pell Grant recipients, and 55 percent of students at the College receive some form of financial aid.
“This financial assistance will be on top of the significant support the University has already provided to students – including assistance with travel, providing direct aid for living expenses to those with need, and supporting students’ transition to online education,” Newton wrote.
Hawley wrote that Universities should have to spend down their endowments before they are given federal aid.
“Universities with billions & billions stashed away in endowments should get no taxpayer money until they have tapped those endowments,” Hawley wrote on Twitter on Monday. Hawley added that it was “obscene” that Harvard will receive a “bailout” from the CARES Act.
Yale University, which received nearly $7 million in aid, boasts a $30.3 billion endowment. Stanford University received around $7.4 million from the stimulus package and maintains a $27.7 billion endowment.