The Harvard Scam: How Elite Schools Steal From You
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- Опубликовано: 12 дек 2023
- Harvard's endowment is a whopping $51 billion. That's larger than the GDP of more than 120 nations - and all the money is tax free.
Taxing just 1% of Harvard’s endowment could make community college free for everyone in Massachusetts. We spoke to some lawmakers who want to do just that and dug into the history of how Harvard - and the rest of the Ivy League - got so rich.
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Why the hell a university with that much money is even charging money for admission makes no sense to me.
They are in it for the money. To the rich enough is never enough.
Actually, what you’re paying for is access to the Oligarchy. Or, as Dave has said: “The real White people!” 😂☮️
So you work for free? I need a few jobs doing.
@@RichardDuncan-ju1xk More like pay them out of the money they already have.
The application fee is to deter middle class+ applicants from applying for too many universities, resulting in a lower quality application pool and more work for the admissions committee and making the process more random. The only problem in including the high application fee is for middle class applicants. I think the application fee waiver eligibility income threshold is too high, and is damaging especially for most international applicants who don't qualify. Personally, I do qualify for a fee waiver, but many of my friends who are only a bit more affluent than I am have to pay ~$500-1000+ just to apply to colleges. ($70-80/school)
A non-profit that makes a disgusting amount of profit is an oxymoron.
looks at my "non profit" hospital ceo giving himself a 19.5% pay raise to 6 million
@@jvb3297The issue is the loophole of "reinvesting into the org" means instead of profits going to "private" investors, it goes to the "private" owners and "administrators" of the non-profit. A lot of charities (coughAnd churchescough) are scams that use being non-profit entities to personally enrich themselves by donating maybe 5-10% to their causes while using the rest to pay the bills of said entity and pocketing the rest. Plus, they don't pay taxes.
the profit becomes an "exspense"
endowments are the main problem, the majority of the profits are from endowments
Learnt long ago that non profit means no dividends. They have surpluses.
Absolutely disgusting display monetizing education. Ivy League enrolls rich kids and teaches them the important knowledge of business management, politics, economy manipulation, while public schools for the poor teach us how to be good productive workers. Classism 101!
Actually elite colleges are simply dedicated to make sure the right people know the right people. Clarence thomas, the Clintons and Robert Reich were all in the same graduating class. The only way to maintain the caste system is to maintain the bonds between caste members.
Well Harvard doesn't make any money off tuition. They break even on that. Harvard makes money from donations and investments. They also are a collection of 13 schools and research hospitals. They do more than just teach, it also hosts lots of cutting edge research and funds faculty for writing papers & books.
Also look at the president of Harvard she copied her thesis and is pro genocide. The value of the degree means less and less. Most graduates cheated and are woefully incompetent in their field
Harvard makes their money from private equity funds and hedge funds that are run by non Ivy League graduates. Not idiot sons of the wealthy.
It's worse than that. The poor and minorities are taught to be obedient and "oppressed" political pawns.
Remember, these Ivy League snob factories are interconnected webs of inner circles dedicated to getting around insidet trading and other regulations so these endowments can make bank.
america, home of the rich, land of the indoctrinated.
This "institution" isn't a school with some money. It's a BANK with some students.
damn underrated comment here
@@dingowingo7977 for real, it should definitely be higher up.
Exactly
By keeping their numbers low the know scarcity creates the illusion of exclusivity. First and foremost all these Ivy Leagues should be paying taxes!
But then Harvard has their extension school scam, so they can have their cake and eat it too. Its elitist and it’s a degree mill
Like diamonds😂
@@RareGenXer A very apt comparison!
Private non-profit universities deserve $0 in public funding, and $0 in tax breaks. That money should exclusively go to public schools.
silence communist! I mean.. socialist :)
If we're going to take away the tax benefits from specific non-profits then religious institutions should be next.
God these numbers are staggering. Over here in UMass Amherst - not a bad college by any means and considered "Massachusetts's 'flagship' campus" - we have nowhere NEAR this kind of money, yet we've enrolled over double the number of new students this semester than Harvard. Where the hell is our money, Governor?
UMASS Amherst is FIRST and FOREMOST a DRINKING COLLEGE!!! The Blarney Blowout IS their MAIN ACCOMPLISHMENT. EVERY YEAR!!!!!
ANYONE with a PULSE gets admitted to UMASS. HENCE their MASSIVE DROPOUT RATE!!!
Wouldn't know about that,@@traybern - life of a commuter student and all that.
Read Dale and Kruger. The elite universities are not hurting low income people, they hurt rich people!
Elite schools price discriminate, that is they charge much more to students from rich families than to students from low income families. They are a tax on the rich and Dale and Kruger shows that there is no benefit to going there than to a state University.
BTW Florida tuition is among the low states and the amount paid per student by government is among the lowest states. Florida spending per student is about half of what Michigan spending per student is. Also too many students are going to college in 2024. The states could easily cut spending on college and make tuition free. They could at least do what Florida does.
I can provide links for all of this do not trust me.
@@Floccini this is gibberish
Yes tax these private schools already! What the hell is taking so long. Tax the churches too, then people can pay less taxes
Oh man, churches are a big one! They don't get taxed AND they always ask for tithes! So many preachers with luxury watches, cars, and clothes fully paid for by the congregation
Well, one could also argue that these endowments are some of the most long-term oriented LPs in the industry. I'm not sure if the money would be better used by the government.
Better idea: get government out of the way so the churches can do the private charity they want to do, then tax individuals instead of churches so those who take in money from "church for sale" schemes (the people you ACTUALLY want to target) pay the taxes you're looking for
People want taxation but do not consider the actual process and effects of taxation.
Facts
Just abolish the tax category of non-profits. If they actually operate such as to not have a profit, they won't need that tax break.
I feel like every non-profit I have ever heard of was just a way to tax dodge. Wonder how the EU treats them...
@@jvb3297That certainly doesn’t seem to be what’s going on here. The endowments just grow and grow while the schools collect millions in tuition fees.
Abolishing non-profits would hurt a lot of really good organizations doing important work. Instead, the government needs to yank the non-profit status of these orgs that are clearly not operating on a non-profit basis. That’s how we operate in Canada. 🤷🏼♀️
I work for a so-called nonprofit at the end of the year they give them selves BIG bonuses and like magic no profit
@@jvb3297
It can be paid out to private parties, just not as dividends. There needs to be some real or fictitious exchange. Bullshit salaries for sinecure positions, consulting fees, speaking fees, legit services provided by the president's brother in law at whatever inflated price they think they can get away with...
Hedge funds in general are an unsavory blight on the investment landscape.
The entire concept of investing (I have money, therefore I deserve free money) is an unsavory blight on the entire world.
@@DistrustHumanz >
Toe-may-toe Toe-mah-toe
I have to agree, after all, you are basically saying the same thing I said, with a twist
u can lose it so it has a risk .so its fair u get returns for taking that risk @@DistrustHumanz
@@DistrustHumanz
@@DistrustHumanz Imo it's just gambling with extra steps.
Greed destroys everything.
Our Industrial Revolution required workers to read and cypher. As industry steadily grew wealthier, public education was not a gift but a necessity. Mass production required mass education. Our preindustrial class pyramid was wide and shallow with a tiny elite. Our post WW2 complex financial culture requires a much taller, more voluminous class system. The carrot of "getting ahead" simply coerces our participation, while our tiny elite continue to run the system for their advantage.
amen
The first Raggedy School was in East End London created by a benevolent working class man who believed in kindness. Moore, an early textile mill owner opened a school that was not only very early, but treated the kids well. But his stated goal was some literacy, and docile workers. These preceded the harsh schools that George Orwell described which taught cruelty to the colonial managers and administrators of their empire.
I didn't know nonprofits got better deals on government loans. It seems that there should be a requirement that the "nonprofit" doesn't have billions of dollars in available funds that could be used instead of a loan before being approved for these loans.
Yeah, that doesn't seem right, the reason you give a better deal is because you see them as disadvantaged, not having any access to capital otherwise.
Tuition for one year at Harvard: $54,000
4% returns on moderately conservative portfolio worth $51 billion: $2 billion
Conclusion: Harvard could give 37,000 students free tuition and not lose any money
You have to have a rate of return higher than inflation - so if inflation is 5%, then your 4% means they are actually losing purchasing power not gaining.
@@jaireidca inflation tends to be way below 5% and 4% is a pretty conservative investment portfolio. Besides, Harvard has PLENTY of wiggle room.
@@52flyingbicyclesnot under JB
@@jaireidca and 4% is way less than even the most conservative and safe portfolios earn per year. Hell a savings account pays 4.35% right now
Well yes and no. Harvard's donations are restrictive meaning they can only be used for certain purposes outlined by the donor. Many donations are used for scholarships & financial aid for students. Most Harvard students have those programs and come out with little to no debt.
Harvard is a collection of 13 schools, research labs, and teaching hospitals. The administrative costs are very high. So although they have a high adowment the costs to run Harvard are high. I don't think it's an issue really. Harvard has low admission rates so they can give better education by having smaller classes.
Time to remove their tax free status
the higher education lobby
Let's say it costs $100k per student to run the school every year. If they have about 1000 students per UG level, that's $400 m/year. With $50 billion in investments, they only need a return of 0.8% to give all those students free tuition. You can easily get that much in a CD. Of course it's not that great to give free tuition to just rich kids, but at least the school is using its money for education.
You need to include inflation in your calculation if you use CD's.
Indoctrination, is not Education.
I love hearing about all of these systemic issues in our society. the more awareness we have of them the sooner they will be fixed.
It’s on us to fix it. The current status isn’t working
A "systemic" issue which applies to a dozen or so entities in the country?
@@UnconventionalReasoning yes
@@blazehall8086 You should try to learn what "systemic" means. Or don't. Festivus is coming soon, I made a reservation for you at the celebrations.
@@UnconventionalReasoningsmall system, humongous impact
Who benefits more from the tax-free status of the endowments than the extraordinarily compensated money managers? The less taxes the endowments pay the more money they have, the more money under management the more the managers make. Harvard is a hedge fund that trains its money managers.
Harvard couldn't just pay tuition for its own students. It could also pay for tuition for quite a few other schools.
YOU could fund at LEAST FOUR “homeless” people to live IN YOUR BASEMENT!!!!
@@traybern no, its full of Ukrainians already, how about you?
@@traybernwell the Harvard is a nonprofit making boatloads of money because of how muck they Jack up tuition to godly degree while not getting pushback and is actually being rewarded for it.
while an functional individual is a person who’s struggling pay check to paycheck cause of how the richer individuals of economy set it up.
@@HPkobold The person working paycheck to paycheck is a DUMBBELL who got NO MORE than a 10th grade education. (fyi,,that’s 40% of Americans) And will now “PAY” for that STUPID decision…for 45 more YEARS. HA!!!!!
It does for students from low income families.
Read Dale and Kruger. The elite universities are not hurting low income people, they hurt rich people!
Elite schools price discriminate, that is they charge much more to students from rich families than to students from low income families. They are a tax on the rich and Dale and Kruger shows that there is no benefit to going there than to a state University.
BTW Florida tuition is among the low states and the amount paid per student by government is among the lowest states. Florida spending per student is about half of what Michigan spending per student is. Also too many students are going to college in 2024. The states could easily cut spending on college and make tuition free. They could at least do what Florida does.
I can provide links for all of this do not trust me.
Thanks for covering this! Speaking of non-profits, could you do a deep dive into cultural institutions like museums, art galleries, and libraries? I'm part of Field Museum Workers United and would love for someone to cover this part of the unionization push!
You can get into an Ivy League with your families money. It is a "legacy" admission. You can be a dumb as a door post, but you don't have to sit an entrance exam.
that needs to be made illegal.
Right. George W. Bush was a legacy admission to Yale. Honestly, though, the "elite-ness" of the Ivies (especially Harvard and Yale) perpetuates through our federal courts, especially at the appeals court (and most especially at SCOTUS) level. It also perpetuates through our politics, with many Presidents having gone to Harvard or Yale (the third most-common place for Presidents to have gone to school at is West Point military academy, and very few have gone to public universities). Even Obama went to Columbia. Shoot, the 2004 Presidential election had two Yale graduates facing off against each other (George W. Bush and John Kerry). In other words, the Ivies don't need to be elitist to be seen as prestigious. Their prestige is based on who their alumni are.
Here's the thing with legacy admissions, though. All universities (even public universities) admit legacy students. It's just compounded at the elite private schools because they keep admissions numbers artificially low. Legacy admissions at public universities barely make a dent in the student body make-up, and are more likely to be more diverse in general. Legacy admissions at the elite private schools, though, adversely affect diversity so much that the elite schools had to take drastic measures to counter-balance, which is what led to the SFFA v. Harvard case to begin with.
A little nit/further context on the fundraising and bond issuance segment: to be clear, they can't fundraise specifically for a building and then not spend it on a building, because that's fraud. What they generally do is hold big "comprehensive campaigns" in which they can raise funds that are unrestricted (to be spent on anything) or restricted for an amount of time or a specific purpose. Very often the especially large gifts come with strings attached, i.e. they can only use that money for scholarships as a common example. For restricted funds, they cannot use that money for daily operations, new buildings, anything outside those restrictions, and depending on the school A Lot of that pot of endowment money may be restricted in some way.
For new buildings, it often more depends on the interest rates. So right now, interest rates are high, which means borrowing is expensive, which means no one wants to use bonds to build things. They instead fundraise for the buildings, or potentially dip into their unrestricted funds (probably not the latter, because high interest rates mean better investment returns). Commonly though, schools will build new buildings either out of their standard capital portion of their annual budget (usually for smaller buildings or renovations), specific fundraising for that building, bond issuance, or a combination of the last two.
Tax-exempt bonds also aren't really a tax dodge on the university's part, but more on the investor side. They're bonds where the investor doesn't have to pay taxes on the interest the university pays them, vs taxable bonds (which universities also sometimes use) where they would. The advantage to the university is that investors accept slightly lower interest rates on tax exempt bonds because they save money on the tax side. There's tons of other variables on that though, including how safe the investment is, which is a big reason universities sit on that much money - because it makes them a safer bet to loan money too, so they get charged less to borrow.
One benefit for you though of those tax exempt bonds is that they're publicly traded, which means by federal regulations they have to post financial audits of the university's annual operations publicly online if they use those bonds, and you can go find out how that school is using its money if you want to. These are continuing disclosure requirements per the SEC, and you can find these documents for free on emma.msrb.org (though it is a pain in the ass to search without CUSIP identifiers for specific bonds). Schools sometimes post their audits directly on their websites too, but ymmv.
Taking your argument at face value, which entity tasked with enforcing the law is going to enforce it against any Ivy League school?
The most expensive lesson I've learned in my life is that laws are meaningless when those charged with enforcing the law refuse to do their job.
@@rickb3650This is a weird response.
@@rickb3650Yeah, I also don't understand how posting the information is going to hold them accountable. I don't even understand why they don't just fabricate or copy & paste the same info year after year.
thank you for the explanation.
@@eugenetswong meaning why they don't fabricate their financial information? Because the government does care if they steal from or defraud rich people (their investors and donors), like the SEC is really strict about that, and these are rules written around transparency and financial disclosures for rich investors. These audits are put together by third party firms too, not the universities themselves, and then reviewed by other financial advisors, investors, rating agencies, on and on down the chain, so there's a lot of scrutiny on those documents
By 2008, General Motors had become a small car company carrying a massive financial enterprise on top, GMAC. It was so big that it got bailed out, even as a non-bank financial institution.
Harvard is basically a 50b AUM hedge fund with a decorative marketing space of old buildings and young people. They are there for the brand.
Nationalize EDUCATION!
No more private education!
Condemn privatization!
I am all for doing that with the caveat that there is a drastic overall to our education system. Most of our public schools act as school to prison pipelines (and if aren't they at the very least run on prison logic) with some locking their children in shit covered solitary confinement cells. I like the idea in practice, but we need to fix the human rights abuses that go on there before we forcibly subject more children to such conditions.
@@alastairhewitt380you’re just saying things. Please give some examples and sources and numbers. Where are kids being locked in solitary confinement?
How could it possibly benefit the people to have grossly corrupt, incompetent, power-mad bureaucrats and politicians in charge of everything?
The founding vision was that the state would be restricted to defense, international trade, and basic law, and we the people would create the nation.
Don't let envy make you crazy or stupid.
Imagine all the ppp loans going into the education system.
Over the last few decades state legislators significantly decrease funding to state university, so it made sense that those universities had to raise tuition. While at the same time, private school’s tuitions stayed 10 to 20% above the public schools. Seems like a good way to make more money
I’ve seen public to private tuition compare more like 3-10 times as much, but maybe increased financial aid would close that gap.
I was married to a development officer in the 1980s. We knew it was gross, but did not see the big picture yet. Your quote from the book on early endowments is critical - endowment did not remove corrupting influence, it just shifted its source.
Rare first video on my YT feed lol
But yes, tax the rich!
The rich owe you nothing. Here s something that will hit you like a truck : if you want something in life, earn it
@@maximemeis2867 I earned my wealth. The rich steal and seize theirs through monopolistic games and corruption.
Go away, bootlicker.
@@maximemeis2867bootlicker
@@maximemeis2867says the guy that lives on welfare.
@@maximemeis2867become a corporate slave.
Meh, the reason for going to Harvard is access to Power. It’s not meant to be accessible to everyone. The system is working as designed. ☮️
Which is why the video is suggesting a redesign. What's your point?
yes and the video is saying for a redesign
what is your point
If you think a “redesign” is possible, you’re out of touch with reality and haven’t taken a look at Human History.The top 1% of the United States controls 51% of the wealth. They don’t like the system, they are the system.☮️
All college should be free. If they want stadiums and sports teams they should have to get the donors to pay. Or just go back to being learning institutions. The government should pay to educate.
Thank you for covering this. I knew a lot about the topic, but I definitely learned more today.
ERROR, his name is Rep SIMON Cataldo, not Peter. I know him. He's good people.
Just sent this to our local Democratic Town Committee. He's a member.
Let's write 2 books. "How to manage your business like Harvard" and "How to manage your business like UC Berkeley" which will sell more? Change"business" to anything else like family, life, relationship...and you will still get same sales results.
I don't understand why it is bad that Republicans are also co-opting the taxing of private universities. Wouldn't it be good that this can be bipartisan issue and pass Congress/Senate?
Harvard (1650) is even older than the Hudson's Bay Company (1670) - I did not know that until now!
It sounds like a lot of things can be fixed by removing their status as a non-profit. This way, they don't have access to government loans and funds for non-profits. The only problem is that once privatized they may start doing the things corps do to get out of taxes
Best part was where the woman says it's a real problem that Trump tried to do something about this issue because he has the wrong letter next to his name.
Seems it isnt the problem she wants fixed, but the credit for fixing it going to the right political party.
I love this channel. Keep on with the great work!
Harvard: A Hedge Fund with a University attached to it.
What a joke.
The federal gov needs to get out of student loans
“Revolving door” doesnt apply to universities. It’s the one of the express purposes of colleges to graduate people that work in businesses. You wouldn’t say “look at all these schools using google to search, after graduating students joined google…”
Excellent job of both exposing the problem and proposing a solution. The one the that baffles me is that you interviewed a young lady that said, " Republicans have co-oped the issue and that's bad". Wouldn't that rather suggest that a bipartisan solution could pass? If both sides agree maybe we can do something! I was surprised you just let her statement stand that widespread agreement on these issues across the aisle is somehow a bad thing.
13:59 Her quote is actually much worse. It has aspects of othering, demonizing, and assuming bad motives.
Everybody knows about it by now.
00:58 The word "elite" in regards to an educational institution does not necessarily mean quality.
But it most definitely means over priced.
As a European in Germany, we worked with many International Students in our business. After having encountered some of those Harvard students, I'd take an Indonesien, a Pakistani, a Columbian from a nugu local University any day over those Harvard students, because they simply proved to be better, smarter, dedicated. I was so shocked when that one US student that studied Public Relations on top of it produced the shittiest newsletter full of mistakes that I have ever seen for us, litteraly middle school level bad, and it took serveral says to produce the shit. But hey, Daddy or Mommy payed so they had a great Harvard diploma. We also had great US students though. They weren't the rich kids though flaunting their IVY Leagues. On the contrary, they were smart enough to had come to Germany to study, because we don't have tuition fees here.
To just know another non-woke and common-sense based channel is to me another boost of faith of humanity.
These colleges need their tax-exempt status taken away. As well as stopping all Federal funding. I believe that colleges should control the college loan program. No Government funding. Let them decide if their money should go to a student who, cannot paid it back. Would they be so fast to loan their own money to finance degrees that offer no future of employment?
The problem is that college is supposed to get you trained for work and universities are supposed to teach you how to think. Because everyone ASSUMES university = college = better job, the institutions can take advantage of this and your money. And leave you high and dry. The reform has to be more basic. You should be allowed to choose your goal and be trained accordingly and pay accordingly.
Education should be available for everyone. It is a positive investment not only in the individual, but also society.
In Germany College is free like in most European countries. The quality of our education is really good. I hope it will stay that way.
Thank you for your journalism!
Finally someone is talking about what matters.
The 99% have to pay capital gains tax while Harvard's Billions pay almost no capital gains tax.
Fair taxation is not “punishment” …
This is a crime of historic proportions. Especially when we consider for expensive public college tuition had become. What a disgrace. The unfortunate part is that a not insignificant number policy makers either went to these schools or are funded by people that went to these schools, this will not change without a grass roots effort to do so.
The problem is that so many jobs require completely arbitrary college degrees, and modern culture makes going to college seem much more important than it actually is. Therefore public schools get to pay pretty much whatever they want and because so many people think that "you need to go to college to succeed in life" thousands of students pay for it even if they literally are not able to afford it. Through most of the college system's history, universities were pretty much just networking circles for the wealthy, you didn't primarily go there to learn because you would learn so much more with real life experience than spending half a year in some classroom.
@@tau-5794 I agree with this. And I believe we need to rethink the way we train people for the work force, college is also incredibly inefficient.
Your clearly in the wrong party. One thing people miss is that the Ivy league trains the regulators so the investments are not as risky. Things that were illegal when I did accountancy in the early 80's are now normal. The risk is still there and we see crashes but the regulator is as confused as everyone else because he or she was never taught the danger.
There is also a partial ban in teaching the free market alternatives so people get confused when free market solutions work.
I'm in Australia, in 2001 John Howard, our PM, warned about the subprime mortgages in the USA. The industry, largely trained in the ivy league or its Australian clone universities, angrily disputed his warnings. Howard banned Australian investment in the US Mortgage market creating two bad banks for those that still wanted to play in the US mortgages. He saved the country from the early damage. John Howard's a free market conservative. Subprime mortgages were mandated by the Clinton government and based on the incorrect teachings of Ben Bernanke when he was an ivy league teacher, that US housing was out of synch from east coast to west coast. His data was wrong, thrown off by the fact that soldiers and sailors from the pacific theater were all paid backpay in the same month and spent on Californian real estate.
One thing rich people don’t understand is that if we fuck up financially, due to ignorance or honest mistakes or fraud and scams or through a legal issue or medical issues sometimes we have such a short leash before our lives are ruined forever.
Who cares if another political party has a good idea? If the idea is good, get on board with it, and if it is bad, oppose it, whether your party agrees or not. Instead of trying to get your party on board with a good idea, how about just getting Americans in general to see the merits. And while looking at merits, consider potential downsides and unintended consequences as well, not just motives or wishful outcomes.
"Degrees, like laws, love, and most things that matter, have a price tag. Even a multimillionaire in Singapore, nearly dead, can buy an illegal kidney transplant and escape jail time, while the poor farmer who sold his kidney not only loses an organ but also faces years in prison and loses 500K SGD. If self-proclaimed 'zero corruption' Singapore can get away with such crimes, why can't US Ivy League do the same?" YOU CAN EVEN PAY SOMEONE TO ATTEND YOUR PERFECT ATTENDANCE AND EXAMS WITHOUT U COME TO CAMPUS (REAL FACTS DONE BY SPOILED CRAZY RICH ASIAN KIDS DURING THEIR STUDY IN USA FROM COLLEGE TO USC, UCLA, AND EVEN IVY LEAGUE.
If you want to understand why crime and inequality exist look no further than university. What else should one expect when they refuse those that need it the most?
Very well laid out content on a deeply upsetting issue!
Great work as always!
its simple profit is individualized and cost is socialized
Love the guy at 10:10, great explanation!
What middle and lower income students don't realize is that attending Harvard won't give them more opportunities than those who are wealthy/elite students. Even wealthy mediocre students get into Harvard because the objective is to NETWORK with other "Elites" and if you are not in the elite crowd/click etc. you are not going to have the same or better opportunities. You'll likely have about the same opportunities as someone who attended a State Uni. Only you will be more heavily indebted than students who attended public universities. Plenty of students (among lower and middle class) coming out of Harvard unable to get decent employment. Elite students will have already secured a top position through networking with other students whose families are in position of power within companies.
This is an echo chamber of people who don’t know anything about University budgeting, the nonprofit sector and federal law. Instead of attacking institutions of higher education, you should focus your energy towards the institutions at the root of your grievances.
Lol, and I’m sure you’re an expert, right? Please enlighten us on how what the narrator in the video has wrong and how these other institutions are really to blame. We’re waiting
the famous last wordsd IF WE TAX
Once money earning income is taxed at a higher rate than labor, then non-profit status should be debated/ considered. Activities done for the public good should be tax exempt. Minimal overhead for those activities can be tax exempt for the facilitation of those activities. All other costs should not be tax deductible (ie. The donor only gets to write off the portion of their donation that goes to eligible activities. 10% of a charity's funds go to good works, their donors can only write off 10% of their donations.)
All non-profits should have to show how their money is spent in furtherance of the public. You know, show that they are spending their money in ways that the government should if the money was collected in taxes. Did you provide healthcare, housing, food, other essential services to the public; in an amount (or more) than would have otherwise been collected as taxes? No? Here is your tax bill and you lost your non-profit status. Try again next year.
the problem with getting rid of legacy additions is that one of the biggest advantages in attending one of these institutions is the opportunity of meeting the kids of the elite. It can give you a great advantage when you are trying to get a job at a major corporation or maybe in the government of another country.
What a clever way to work the system. Good for them. I'm not sure why everyone is upset about this. They took the right risks with a shitload of money and the ROI is exceptional. Just because they have a lot of money, doesn't mean they should be forced to pay for your schooling. We aren't communists or socialists, we're capitalists. There is nothing criminal happening here. Pay for your own shit
Why can't the public schools start the same?
I was reading about this yesterday, and I'm 100% for removing or reducing their tax exempt status. We won't get into how the money that founded those "elite" universities was made, but they certainly weren't doing a public service.
I would love it if you guys would do a story on the inequality of access to entheogenic substances. The wealthy are free to use these substances therapeutically, but low income people are being priced out of these therapeutic options. All people deserve equal access to all medicines, and yet those in the highest category of need are unable to afford to participate in these therapies.
Medicine and health care in general is so obscenely expensive because there are tons of patents and government regulations that only exist to keep the existing manufacturers in power and not have to face competition. The solution isn't to force these companies to sell for cheaper, it's simply to allow more companies to form and sell the same products at a lower price and compete with the monopolies.
I don't agree that taxing is the proper solution. Private non-profit organizations are required by the IRS to distribute 5% of assets every year to maintain their tax exempt status. So either enforce that or raise that percentage. It would also be helpful if governments would not subsidize colleges and students that attend schools with large endowment, but yet very low attendance. And lastly it would help if society as a whole would not place such high value on an education from an institution that favors the rich over the poor without little regard for merit.
About 50% of the land in Boston and Cambridge (Harvard) is non-taxable due to countless universities and churches. They get all of the city services (police, fire, snow removal, etc.) without paying a cent, burdening taxpayers with the cost.
When I was in college (a state college) in the early '90s. one of my professors said that there was no difference in an education from our school and one from Harvard except for alumni working together (networking) and ability to fail/kick out low performing students. The resources were all the same.
David Swensen was my boss when I worked at the Yale Office of Investments when I was an undergraduate at Yale in the late 1980’s. It was just a side job to make some extra bucks, mostly pushing papers and the like. However, I did get an impression of the guy, and though he was nice to me, there was something about him which I didn’t trust. He was just too slick and good-looking, kind of very guarded in his speech, and came off as very self-centered and completely obsessed with money. Not exactly the type of person I emulate in my own life.
Uh news flash this is how life works. That is why relationships are so important. We all do this in some way. We look out for the ones we value.
“Yes, I also defend an elitist society, though I, myself, don’t benefit from it.” Just by your comment I can tell you’re far from the “elite” that schools like Harvard poach from. Ironic that so much of the middle and lower class still defend them lok
They prioritised profits for the fund, against all other members of the fund, without those other people knowing.
What's the name of the person explaining everything? Amazing video, neat editing and information packed beautifully.
I would love to see you do one of your excellent videos on this topic - The lack of publicness in public elementary and secondary education. The way these institutions are being hijacked for profit and social control, and similarly to elite colleges, present themselves as social mobility engines while performing the opposite function. If you have already done so, my apologies. A concept i see brimming up in your stuff is the "pyrrhic defeat." Might be worth a look at The Rich Get Richer The Poor Get Prison for anyone who wants that theory laid out in depth.
Be careful for what you ask for: WHen Harvard finances community colleges, Harvard can control them....
No they can't, because Harvard wouldn't be financing them. Harvard would be paying the government a tax. The government would earmark that tax for community colleges. So the government is still running the colleges, not Harvard.
Even if that were true, which it isn’t, having more diverse alumni would preclude having so much white guilt that you can’t denounce genocide if brown people do it.
So Liberty University or Roberts University. They can be taxed also but they don't mention those schools why?
I have toured the university campuses of Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Norhwestern, Emerson,
UCLA and UC Berkley. Harvard has by far the worst student living facilities especially for freshmen and UCLA has the best ones. Of course student dorms aren't supposed to be luxurious accommodation but when you walk across Harvard campus you can't help but wonder "where does all the money go"? Especially when you've just toured a public uni campus and saw x5 better amenities. Turns out they hoard the money into hedge funds to make more money instead of investing it into facilities.
More information about the sneaky "non profit" private universities. We're dealing with a private university renting property from a public library in the city near me
Simple - Tax them - no tax is how they amassed ungodly wealth - They OWN almost all of Cambridge MA and pay no tax
it’s weird that everyone thinks that non-for profits, you know, those things that are functionally the same as for-profit institutes but can’t officially export profit like a shareholder or business owner, is better than just trying to do the same thing, but through a more democratic institute and more democratic accountability, like a government funded by taxing income and wealth.
Like, these organizations are by nature non-democratic, since individuals voluntarily fund and direct the operation of the non-profit, and the only say people have over exactly how the thing works is “give money or don’t give them money.”
Which means that people with lots of money have more control over the non-profits then those that don’t. Which makes it more likely for the non-profits to operate in their interests, doing what they want, or at least not upsetting them too much, or doing anything to make them feel like they would put their contribution at risk.
It’s all part of the reinforcement loop that keeps power pooling, and keeps it pooled.
If Harvard built more campuses, they would essentially dilute their brand. In reality, their exclusivity and longevity is also their appeal.
Great video! I'm curious about private K-12 education; are they similar to Ivy League schools?
I thought there was an interesting point that Ivy League schools don't admit many low income students. It actually matches up with an important thing that I learned while researching the affirmative action debate for admissions. It came out that many of these schools had looked at giving low income students an advantage in their admissions process, but it didn't result in the diversity numbers that they wanted, so they ended up having to use race instead of income. Some people point to this and say this is evidence that affirmative action in admission processes isn't helping disadvantaged groups which is what supposedly affirmative action is all about.
I think it's actually the opposite. These Ivy Leagues don't care about affirmative action and diversity, what they want to make sure is that the people they are admitting are from rich families, they don't want low income students at their universities. If it was about diversity you would want more low income students, the differences between people based on income are far larger than the differences based on race. But it's not about diversity or affirmative action, it's all about getting more kids from rich families into the university. What they found was that race based admission resulted in them attracting more rich kids from minority groups. Not using race would have meant more low income Asian and white students would have been admitted. By including race you give a benefit to say the kids of an African American NFL or NBA player, or an African American politicians kids, or kids of immigrants from India or South America that are doctors or other professionals that legally immigrated to the US recently. Who you aren't giving a benefit to is the inter city kids that are from families that have been impoverished for generations and worked hard to be the top of their class, but can't compete with the students of the best suburb high schools and parents that can hire tutors and pay for their kids to do tons of afterschool activities.
also investment / hedge funds run by not-for-profit hospital mega-chains also need to be regulated
I don't believe you are correct to compare Havard's endowment to nations' GDP. GDP is more like an income, whereas an endowment is an asset.
Awesome video, and thank you for keeping up the fight of clarity, equality, and fairness. We’re all in this together to end this system at large.
Yes, end the system of elite higher education. Let's make everyone stupider.
For tee tee fascist.
@@soccerandtrack10 focus on soccer.
"AOC talks about taxing the wealthy, but the harvard University endowment pays zero tax" sir, that's not a "But" situation. That's a "This is something that fits with your goals" situation.
Seriously if they mention that to a progressive, that would help to build an alliance.
Make them pay Federal taxes!!!
So much greed. Just like banks, corporations and government.
Exact same level of greed.
Harvard has a school for adult learners called "Harvard Extension School" and even students there aren't given the aid that "College" students do. Even though we have to "earn our way in" by getting B's or better in three classes. These classes are just as hard as their other classes and a B- does not count.
You see similar issues in Australia with the high schools. There are a number of 'elite' high schools here which charge a lot for enrollment, who consistently get donations from alumni AND receive funding from the government, often to the detriment of the public high schools which are themselves constantly fighting for enough money for the bare necessities to operate.
The cocaine 80s caused a lot of problems, quick money focus risk be damned.
I feel like this video makes some good points but misses some key information. Harvard does have a high endowment from investments but also donations. Many of those donations are restrictive and can only be used in a way outlined by the donor. Harvard doesn't make money from tuition, it breaks even. Many of the donations create scholarships and financial aid programs that allow students to have either low debt or no debt.
Harvard is more than just one school, it's a collection of 13 schools, research labs, and teaching hospitals. The cost for administration and operations is really high. So although it looks like they have a lot of money, most of the money is inaccessible except for certain uses. Harvard couldn't pay for other local community colleges even if they wanted to. Those donations and investments are tied up lethally by the donors.
So moral of the story is rich, people get rich, and stay rich by working together, while poor people work as individuals