"Where does my tuition go?" How the College spreads $936 million over a global infrastructure

Author: Cecilia Goldschmidt

Based on a survey last year conducted by the Student Comprehensive Fee Committee and completed by 430 students, half of the students here do not know that the actual figure for tuition is close to $30,000 more than what you see on your twice yearly bill. So you think $46,910 is a hefty amount? Well, you are right, it most certainly is, but imagine your parents' faces upon opening a bill in the mail for $73,000.

"Middlebury students are charged less than their education costs," said Robert Huth, executive vice president and treasurer. The key reason for the difference - the endowment.

Let us look at the Middlebury College endowment. A lot of huge numbers and complicated math usually intimidates students from really getting to the bottom of what is going on behind the scenes with our money. Presently the Middlebury endowment is $936 million. That sounds like a lot of money right? You may ask yourself why are we even paying tuition with almost a billion dollars in the bank?

The truth is, we are just trying to keep up with other colleges and in most cases, the money is spent far in advance. Other small liberal arts schools such as Williams, Pomona, Amherst, Wellesley, Swarthmore and Smith all have larger endowments than little old Middlebury. But we are not in a bad place financially - Vassar, Bowdoin, Oberlin and Wesleyan trail behind.

In 2006, Middlebury's endowment broke down to $322,000 per student. Technically this means that you have a couple hundred thousand dollars to your name here, but it is not quite so simple - five percent of this money is being spent on you. So if the real cost of educating a Middlebury student is around $73,000, how does the school widdle a huge number to a smaller huge number? The endowment contributes $48 million to tuition every year. This number comes out to around $16,000 per student that went directly towards your "tuition." Subtract that and then subtract the money that comes from gifts to the College (about $14 million divided between all students) and that is a rough approximation of our present tuition of close to $47,000. There is, of course, more to it than that, but those are just some of the numbers you should be aware of.

Students often talk about "the Middlebury Bubble," which often points to the lack of malls and movie theatres in the Greater Addison County area - but Middlebury's global reach is a big reason why the endowment is an important number to keep growing.

"Any college you talk to would like to have a larger endowment," said Huth. A school with assests such as the Breadloaf facilities, the Middlebury Language Schools and the Schools Abroad accrues some serious costs - forcing the current Middlebury College budget to a little over $200 million.

With all this talk of money, it is easy to become jaded about the process of increasing the endowment. Dean of the College Tim Spears offers some calming words to students when looking at endowments.

"The aim is to make the educational experience here as rich as possible for students," said Spears.