Harvard Raises $9.6 Billion in Final Capital Campaign Tally, Smashing Its Own Fundraising Record; federal taxpayer subsidies continue…

Kristine E. Guillaume and Jamie D. Halper:

Harvard just beat Harvard’s own fundraising record — in a major way.

The University closed out its capital campaign at $9.6 billion, officials announced Thursday morning, meaning the school surpassed its original goal — already representing the highest amount ever raised by a single institute of higher education — by more than $3 billion.

The sum is more than one and a half times the amount Stanford University — the previous record-holder — raised in its last capital campaign.

Harvard’s campaign, which ended in June, raised $1.3 billion for financial aid alone across the University, according to Tamara E. Rogers ’74, vice president for alumni affairs and development. Fundraising totals for financial aid at individual schools and for other campaign priorities are not yet available.

Related: open the books:

1. Ivy League payments and entitlements cost taxpayers $41.59 billion over a six-year period (FY2010-FY2015). This is equivalent to $120,000 in government monies, subsidies, & special tax treatment per undergraduate student, or $6.93 billion per year.

2. The Ivy League was the recipient of $25.73 billion worth of federal payments during this period: contracts ($1.37 billion), grants ($23.9 billion) and direct payments – student assistance ($460 million).

3. In monetary terms, the ‘government contracting’ business of the Ivy League ($25.27 billion – federal contracts and grants) exceeded their educational mission ($22 billion in student tuition) FY2010-FY2015.

4. The eight colleges of the Ivy League received more money ($4.31 billion) – on average – annually from the federal government than sixteen states: see report.

5. The Ivy League endowment funds (2015) exceeded $119 billion, which is equivalent to nearly $2 million per undergraduate student.