When I Was Young

A cap on education also? Hopefully, the education system will have a boost, despite its deferred campus upgrade.


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CAMBRIDGE (Massachusetts) — Harvard University is planning to cut yearly capital spending by as much as half as it faces a 30-percent drop in its endowment.

Harvard, the world’s richest school, planned to spend US$1 billion ($1.5 billion) yearly for three to four years to upgrade its campus in Cambridge and expand across the Charles River in Boston, according to a Moody’s Investors Service report. The school now may trim as much as US$500 million a year from its plans to help it weather the recession.

Mr John Longbrake, a university spokesman, confirmed the report’s information. The report had also affirmed Harvard’s AAA credit rating, the highest available.

The Moody’s report also reviewed Harvard’s US$5.8 billion in debt. The school has begun cutting its budget, freezing hiring and offering early retirement to some staff, after its US$36.9-billion endowment lost US$8 billion.

The university said it expects a 30-per-cent drop in the fund through June 30. That would bring its assets to about US$25.9 billion.

- Bloomberg


From TODAY, World
Friday, 03-April-2009